English한국어繁體中文ไทยPortuguêsItalianoDeutschFrançaisEspañol El Tesoro de USDC de Circle acuñó $500 millones en USDC en la blockchain de Solana el 14 de julio de 2026, ejecutando la emisión en dos tramos de $250 millones cada uno en aproximadamente dos horas. SOL trepó hacia los $78 el 15 de julio, mientras la nueva liquidez en stablecoin coincidía con datos de inflación en EE. UU. más suaves de lo esperado y un movimiento generalizado de apetito por el riesgo en los mercados de criptomonedas.
Por qué $500M en nuevos USDC son importantes para Solana Las dos acuñaciones llevaron la emisión acumulada de USDC de Circle en Solana durante 2026 a superar los $66.760 millones, según datos on-chain rastreados por Onchain Lens. Solana ahora mantiene entre $7.200 millones y $8.600 millones en USDC en circulación, lo que refuerza el papel de la red como una de las cadenas más activas de Circle para la creación de stablecoins.
La inyección llegó tras semanas de presión vendedora que había arrastrado a SOL muy por debajo de sus máximos de mayo. Las ventas acumuladas de Pump.fun, de aproximadamente $780 millones en SOL, junto con distribuciones institucionales más amplias, presionaron el precio a la baja durante junio. El volumen de negociación diario del 15 de julio superó los $2.100 millones, lo que sugiere que el rebote tuvo más convicción que la mera especulación de corto plazo.
Primera señal de compra SuperTrend desde octubre eleva el sentimiento El analista de criptomonedas Ali Martinez, conocido como Ali Charts en X, señaló que el gráfico de tres días de Solana marcó una señal de compra SuperTrend por primera vez desde el 10 de octubre. El indicador cambió de signo después de que el stop dinámico basado en el Average True Range se situara por debajo de la acción del precio de SOL, cerca de $78.
«Si la presión compradora continúa acumulándose, $SOL podría avanzar hacia $96 o incluso $121. Sin embargo, $60 sigue siendo el nivel clave a vigilar», escribió Martinez. La anterior señal de venta SuperTrend precedió a una corrección de aproximadamente el 74%, lo que hace que este nuevo cambio de señal sea relevante para los traders que evalúan si la tendencia bajista de varios meses de Solana se ha agotado.
Los datos de liquidaciones de CoinGlass muestran densos clústeres de liquidaciones en corto acumulados entre $78,50 y $80, con concentración adicional hacia $81,50. Un avance a través de esos niveles podría desencadenar compras forzadas desde posiciones bajistas.
La profundidad en stablecoins se convierte en el argumento institucional de Solana La magnitud de la actividad de acuñación de Circle en Solana durante 2026 está modificando la tesis de inversión de la red. Una emisión bruta de USDC en una sola cadena que supera los $66.000 millones en aproximadamente seis meses indica que los creadores de mercado institucionales y los proveedores de pagos están tratando a Solana como infraestructura de liquidación primaria, y no como una cadena alternativa para la especulación minorista.
Esa distinción cobra importancia a medida que se acerca a la red principal la actualización de consenso Alpenglow. La actualización, que apunta a una finalidad de aproximadamente 150 milisegundos y que viene funcionando en un clúster de pruebas comunitario desde el 11 de mayo, haría que la velocidad de confirmación de Solana fuera competitiva frente a los sistemas de pago centralizados, y no solo frente a otras blockchains rivales.
El analista Michaël van de Poppe ha argumentado que la zona de $75 a $77 debe mantenerse como soporte para que SOL sostenga su recuperación hacia $100. Una ruptura por debajo de ese rango devolvería el foco al área de soporte de $70, donde permanecen concentradas las posiciones largas apalancadas.
La media móvil de 100 días cercana a $80,30 representa la primera gran barrera superior, y no lograr superarla podría mantener a SOL atrapado dentro de su rango de consolidación.
Los activos del mundo real tokenizados de Solana han crecido hasta aproximadamente $3.300 millones, y la asociación de la red con SBI Holdings para expandir la infraestructura financiera on-chain en Japón se suma a su presencia institucional. El próximo catalizador en el calendario es el lanzamiento de Agave v4.2, previsto para el 17 de agosto, que introduce funciones fundamentales para la migración a Alpenglow.
การอัดฉีดครั้งนี้เกิดขึ้นหลังจากที่แรงขายกดดันราคาต่อเนื่องหลายสัปดาห์ ทำให้ SOL ร่วงลงต่ำกว่าระดับสูงสุดในเดือนพฤษภาคมอย่างมาก ยอดขายสะสมของ Pump.fun ที่ประมาณ 780 ล้านดอลลาร์ในรูป SOL รวมถึงการกระจายขายของสถาบันในภาพรวมกดดันราคาตลอดเดือนมิถุนายน ปริมาณการซื้อขายรายวันในวันที่ 15 กรกฎาคมพุ่งขึ้นเกิน 2.1 พันล้านดอลลาร์ ซึ่งบ่งชี้ว่าการฟื้นตัวครั้งนี้มีน้ำหนักความเชื่อมั่นมากกว่าเพียงการเก็งกำไรระยะสั้น
สัญญาณซื้อ SuperTrend ครั้งแรกนับตั้งแต่เดือนตุลาคมหนุนความเชื่อมั่น Ali Martinez นักวิเคราะห์คริปโตที่รู้จักกันในชื่อ Ali Charts บน X ระบุว่ากราฟรายสามวันของ Solana แสดงสัญญาณซื้อ SuperTrend เป็นครั้งแรกนับตั้งแต่วันที่ 10 ตุลาคม โดยอินดิเคเตอร์นี้พลิกกลับหลังจากที่ Average True Range trailing stop เคลื่อนลงมาต่ำกว่าการเคลื่อนไหวของราคา SOL ที่บริเวณ 78 ดอลลาร์
Damilola Esebame is a finance journalist and content strategist specializing in DeFi, crypto, macroeconomics, and FX. With eight years of editorial experience, he delivers data-backed explainers, interviews, and market updates that turn complex on-chain themes into practical insights. At FinanceFeeds he maps the DeFi landscape—stablecoins, tokenization, liquidity, and policy—linking digital-asset developments to macro drivers and market structure for brokers and platforms.
Meme coins have faced $1.21 billion in cumulative net selling pressure on Binance since Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) made its last all-time high in October 2025.
Sustained Selling Pressure for Meme CoinsIn an X post on July 14, on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant said the meme coins sector has remained under sustained selling despite occasional bursts of speculation.
Data highlighted the heavy risk appetite deterioration across crypto’s most speculative assets.
While Robinhood’s blockchain launch recently revived interest in meme coins, helping projects like CASHCAT reach a market capitalization of roughly $138 million, CryptoQuant noted that such rallies have been driven by novelty rather than sustained demand.
The significant net outflow underscores how severely meme coins tend to underperform during broader market corrections and serves as a reminder of the heightened capital-loss risk associated with the sector.
Why Meme Coins May Be GamblingIn an X post on July 14, crypto analyst Kevin echoed those concerns, saying the growing obsession with meme coins is making him reduce crypto’s weighting in his investment portfolio.
Kevin added that he expected retail participation to gradually rotate back toward Bitcoin after the previous cycle but instead believes much of the market has shifted toward speculative meme coin trading making it a gambling space.
"If the sector isn’t going to properly heal and instead continues to double down on memes, I see no choice but to take it less and less seriously as an investable asset class," he said, adding that exchanges have increasingly benefited from the trend.
In another X post, Kevin argued that more experienced crypto investors have shifted their attention toward artificial intelligence, robotics and quantum computing, while maintaining some Bitcoin exposure.
Many newer market participants are primarily focused on meme coin speculation, a trend Kevin believes will leave much of the broader altcoin market producing lower highs over successive cycles.
Also, many projects will eventual become "ghost chains" despite intermittent bull-market rallies.
Image: Shutterstock
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Shiba Inu, the meme-inspired cryptocurrency, has surpassed a significant new milestone with the number of its burn transactions, according to tracking platform Shibburn. The total number of burn transactions now stands at 21,169, marking a new record for the project.
Shiba Inu burn activity crosses 21,000 transactionsData from Shibburn indicates that 410,840,379,271,575 SHIB have been burned to date, accounting for 41.08% of Shiba Inu’s original supply of 1 quadrillion tokens. The remaining supply is reported as 58.92% of the initial amount.
Currently, Shiba Inu’s total token supply is 589.15 trillion SHIB, with a circulating supply of 585.61 trillion SHIB. In the past 24 hours, 2.85 million SHIB tokens were destroyed, contributing to a total of 155.11 million burned in the last seven days and 259.39 million SHIB burned over the last 30 days.
Mini dictionary: Shibburn, a community-driven tracking website that monitors and reports token burns within the Shiba Inu ecosystem. Burning refers to sending tokens to an inaccessible wallet, effectively removing them from circulation as a scarcity measure.
MetricAmountTotal burn transactions21,169Total SHIB burned410,840,379,271,575Burned in last 24 hours2.85 millionBurned in last 7 days155.11 millionBurned in last 30 days259.39 millionCurrent supply (total)589.15 trillionCurrent supply (circulating)585.61 trillionGrowing holder base and recent market actionShiba Inu’s on-chain activity has increased alongside its community growth. Etherscan, an Ethereum blockchain explorer, reports that the number of unique SHIB holders has now reached 1,676,819. The asset recently crossed 1.6 million holders, reflecting its expanding user base within crypto markets.
Shiba Inu’s price has followed broader market trends, trading higher as the overall crypto market rebounded. Investors pointed to the latest US consumer price index, which dropped by 0.4% in June and brought annual inflation to 3.5%. This lower-than-expected reading reduced expectations for an imminent interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.
Price rebound after recent lowsAt the time of publication, SHIB’s price had gained 3.1% over the previous 24 hours, reaching $0.00000424. The token had fallen to $0.000004 earlier in the week, marking a three-day decline, but subsequently recovered alongside other major cryptocurrencies.
The upward movement continued into early Wednesday, ahead of official producer price index (PPI) data for June. Market participants will be monitoring upcoming economic releases for further signals about the US economic outlook following the cooling consumer inflation figures.
Consensus forecasts suggest the PPI remained stable in June, after rising 1.1% the previous month. Many investors are looking for additional clues from the data to inform their outlook on assets like Shiba Inu and the broader cryptocurrency market.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Cover image via depositphotos.com Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.
In just ten days, Shiba Inu's exchange reserves have lost about 1.4 trillion SHIB, indicating a significant change in exchange-related activity. Recent on-chain data shows that total exchange reserves dropped to 86.48 trillion SHIB, following a pattern that has been emerging throughout July.
Poor market conditionsBecause fewer tokens are readily available for immediate sale, a drop in exchange reserves is frequently seen as a bullish signal. When investors take money out of trading platforms and put it in their private wallets, it usually indicates that they would rather hold than sell. The reduction is especially noteworthy in SHIB's case because of the size of the withdrawals and the current market conditions.
SHIB/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe picture is not wholly optimistic, though. There has been a significant increase in exchange inflows, according to other exchange metrics. While overall inflows and outflows both increased, the seven-day average exchange inflow increased by more than 100%.
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This implies that even though reserves are generally decreasing, SHIB is still actively moving between exchanges and private wallets, giving traders a mixed signal. This uncertainty is reflected in the price chart. After losing a significant amount of its value over the past few months, SHIB is still stuck in a protracted downtrend and is currently trading close to $0.00000425.
SHIB's price reviewThe asset is still trading below the 26-day, 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day EMAs, among other significant moving averages. This alignment demonstrates that bears continue to dominate the overall market structure. Technical trends have also not shown promise. The chart's previous consolidation formations did not result in long-lasting breakouts, and more recent attempts at recovery were thwarted before they reached important resistance levels.
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The 100-day EMA near $0.00000520 represents a more significant barrier that would need to be reclaimed in order to alter the medium-term outlook, while the 50-day EMA around $0.00000467 currently acts as the first significant barrier for bulls. Despite ongoing market pressure, SHIB has been able to stabilize above recent lows, which is encouraging.
The RSI has recovered from oversold conditions, suggesting that aggressive selling has subsided, even though it is still below the neutral 50 level. Some investors may be preparing for a longer-term recovery, as evidenced by the removal of 1.4 trillion SHIB from exchanges. Even though supply dynamics are improving, the token is still trapped in a more general bearish structure until price action starts to validate that story through higher highs and reclaimed moving averages.
Shiba Inu witnessed a major shift in exchange-related activity over the past ten days, as centralized exchanges saw their SHIB reserves decline by about 1.4 trillion tokens. On-chain data shows that total exchange holdings have fallen to 86.48 trillion SHIB, marking one of July’s most notable withdrawal trends.
Exchange activity signals mixed sentimentA decrease in token reserves on exchanges is frequently interpreted as a bullish indicator, suggesting that investors are transferring holdings to private wallets rather than keeping them ready for sale. Large-scale withdrawals of SHIB, especially during periods of market uncertainty, often indicate a preference among holders to wait for improved market conditions.
However, other exchange metrics provide a different perspective. Both exchange inflows and outflows have increased, and the seven-day average inflow surged by more than 100%. This pattern points toward heightened trading activity and underlines ongoing movement between private wallets and trading platforms.
While overall SHIB reserves on exchanges declined, strong inflows in recent days indicate active trading and continued volatility.
The simultaneous rise in both inflows and outflows generates conflicting signals for traders, resulting in uncertainty reflected in recent price movements. Despite the significant drop in reserves, SHIB continues to trade in a prolonged downtrend near $0.00000425, with no clear breakout from its current range.
Bears dominate technical structureShiba Inu’s price remains below key moving averages, including the 26-day, 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day exponential moving averages. This alignment shows that bearish momentum persists, preventing meaningful upward price movements. Previous attempts to break consolidation phases have failed to create sustainable rallies, while recent recovery efforts stalled before reaching important resistance levels.
IndicatorCurrent LevelStatusPrice$0.00000425Below key averages50-day EMA$0.00000467First resistance100-day EMA$0.00000520Major resistanceRSIBelow 50, out of oversoldWeak but stabilizingThe 50-day EMA at $0.00000467 stands as the first challenge for bullish buyers, while the 100-day EMA near $0.00000520 remains a more substantial threshold required to support a medium-term reversal. Despite persistent market pressure, SHIB has managed to maintain levels above its recent cyclical lows.
Market outlook remains cautiousThe relative strength index has rebounded slightly, moving out of oversold territory, yet it remains below the neutral 50 mark. This transition may suggest that aggressive selling has eased, yet overall sentiment continues to favor the bears until clear technical progress emerges. The withdrawal of 1.4 trillion SHIB from exchanges hints at growing confidence among some long-term investors, although the token’s broader trend still points to a bearish outlook.
The improvement in supply dynamics provides some optimism, but SHIB’s price must reclaim key moving averages to confirm a shift in market direction.
Unless the price can rise above significant resistance levels and establish higher highs, Shiba Inu investors may continue to see choppy trading conditions and muted recovery prospects.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Cover image via depositphotos.com Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.
Japanese tech giant Rakuten Wallet has announced the creation of the first physical Shiba Inu (SHIB) coin of its kind. The project is the fifth release in the collectible "Real Coin" series and has already become an absolute hit in the company's internal tests thanks to its unique tactile surface.
The new product is preparing to enter a market where the brand's retail ecosystem reaches 44 million users.
The development comes amid a tectonic shift in legislation, as Japan's parliament passed a package of historic amendments that definitively moves cryptocurrencies out of the gray zone and into a strictly regulated investment league.
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A look at the first-of-its-kind physical Shiba Inu (SHIB) coin by Rakuten Wallet, Source: Rakuten Wallet via XThe physical SHIB coin is a metal souvenir with no technical connection to the blockchain. However, Rakuten approached its creation with distinctly Japanese perfectionism. Unlike previous releases in the series — Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP — the Shiba Inu coin is the first to use sandblasting technology, known as a blast finish.
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The result is a premium matte texture and unique tactile properties that earned the souvenir 100% approval from the company's employees during internal office testing. The company now plans to bring this "tactile hit" to live presentations and offline events, using it in large-scale merchandise giveaway campaigns.
How Japan's historic law overhaul reshapes the crypto market While marketers evaluate the aesthetics of the souvenirs, the company's lawyers are studying the new strict rules of the game. The amendments passed by parliament today bring crypto assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. This means comprehensive oversight:
Ban on insider trading: Any speculation based on leaked information, such as upcoming token listings, is now subject to criminal penalties.Transparency: Asset issuers must disclose information about themselves in the same way as traditional public companies.The end of illegal operators: Exchanges operating without registration risk massive fines and actual prison sentences.Foundation for ETFs: The law establishes the groundwork for spot crypto ETFs, although their launch will still require separate, specific regulatory approvals.Why is an industry giant promoting SHIB to 44 million users?For Rakuten, SHIB has long outgrown its status as an ordinary internet joke. In the spring, the exchange added support for the token, directly connecting it to the corporation's massive ecosystem.
Millions of Japanese users can now convert their loyalty points, known as Rakuten Points, into SHIB and spend them through the Rakuten Pay payment system at 5 million retail locations across the country.
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Against the backdrop of market legalization and preparations for the launch of crypto ETFs, competition for retail customers in Japan has intensified.
A unique coin and giveaways involving millions of units are a classic marketing strategy for capturing an audience. Rakuten is seeking to establish itself as the country's leading retail gateway before major investment funds are legally allowed to enter the market.
US government moves memecoins seized from Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX
The U.S. government has moved roughly $235,500 worth of Shiba Inu (SHIB) seized from collapsed crypto exchange FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, on July 15, according to Arkham Intelligence data.
The SHIB transfer of 54.895 billion tokens was the final move in a nearly day-long dispersal. Over the preceding 20 hours, the same government wallet sent out 209.18 ETH ($390,980), 0.533 Wrapped Bitcoin ($34,360), and smaller allocations of Compound ($21,120), Yearn Finance ($11,390), Numeraire ($39,890), Axie Infinity ($4,080), and iExec RLC ($40,720).
In total, the dispersal moved roughly $778,000 across at least eight fresh addresses.
Test transactions signal a careful operationThe on-chain data reveals methodical execution. Nearly every transfer was preceded by a roughly $10 test transaction in the same token. It is a standard precaution before moving funds to new addresses.
U.S. Government moves multiple memecoins including Shiba Inu
Arkham
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The FTX dispersal wasn't the only action. Twenty-two hours earlier, a U.S. government wallet tied to the Bitfinex hack case sent 5,939 ETH, worth $11.15 million, to Coinbase Prime, the platform the U.S. Marshals Service selected in 2024 to custody and trade its large-cap digital assets.
Trending on TheStreet RoundtableCathie Wood's ARK issues bold prediction on U.S. digital dollarU.S. government moves $8.8M of Bitcoin that Trump said would never sellAnalysts stunned by Robinhood's $3.1 billion debut weekA $21 billion crypto treasuryThe moves are small changes against the government's total stack. Arkham pegs U.S. government crypto holdings at $21.4 billion across 618 tracked addresses. It is dominated by 324,552 Bitcoin worth $21.1 billion, plus $145 million in Tether, $48.7 million in Wrapped Bitcoin, and $42.8 million in Ethereum.
The FTX-seized tokens trace back to Sam Bankman-Fried's 2022 collapse. A federal judge ordered him to forfeit $11 billion following his fraud conviction, with recovered assets directed toward victim compensation.
The two were supposed to operate independently, but FTX secretly funneled billions in customer deposits to Alameda to cover its losses. Both collapsed in November 2022, and Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud, receiving 25 years in prison.
The tokens trace back to the 2022 collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's empire. A federal judge ordered Bankman-Fried to forfeit $11 billion after his fraud conviction, with recovered funds directed toward victim compensation.
On-chain data flagged by Arkham Intelligence shows that $250,000 worth of Shiba Inu tokens (contract address ethereum:0x95ad61b0a150d79219dcf64e1e6cc01f0b64c4ce), seized from FTX and Alameda Research, have moved out of a US government wallet. The transfer is widely assumed to be earmarked for creditors as part of the ongoing FTX estate recovery process.
The memecoin movement is the latest in a series of government transfers that have drawn attention across crypto markets this week. On Monday, according to Arkham Intelligence, 3,940 Bitcoin and 30,014 Ethereum, totaling roughly $288 million, were sent to Coinbase Prime. A further $12.9 million followed on Tuesday, and another $9.29 million in $ETH moved on Wednesday.
A Deposit Is Not a Sale Despite the scale of the flows, market participants should note an important distinction. Coinbase Prime serves as both custodian and trading venue. The US Marshals Service selected the platform in 2024 to provide custody and advanced trading services for large-cap digital assets, which means a deposit there can reflect custody consolidation as easily as sale preparation.
On-chain records show where funds moved, but they do not reveal the government's final instructions to Coinbase Prime. A confirmed sale would require further wallet activity, trading records, or an official statement. Until then, the transaction remains a custody or asset-management move rather than proof of liquidation.
The pattern has produced false alarms before. Seized FTX-linked Chainlink moved to Coinbase Prime in June, and seized Alameda altcoins in May; neither became a confirmed sale.
Part of a Longer Liquidation Pattern The transfers continue a months-long pattern in which the US government has funneled millions in forfeited crypto into exchanges. The latest batches have included Chainlink, Aave, Chiliz, and Balancer. The FTX estate's creditor repayment effort has been running in parallel. The FTX estate delivered its fourth creditor distribution round, worth $2.2 billion, in March.
In March 2025, President Trump signed an executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, with a public commitment that the government would not sell its $BTC holdings. But that pledge specifically covered Bitcoin. It did not extend the same protection to Ether or any other digital asset. That distinction matters given the volume of $ETH now passing through Coinbase Prime.
For now, the government has not published a formal liquidation schedule for the remaining FTX and Alameda assets. Blockchain analytics firms including Chainalysis and Arkham Intelligence monitor public blockchain transactions for wallet addresses known to be associated with government agencies, and these transfers are publicly visible on the blockchain, allowing anyone to track movements in real time.
Sources
The Crypto Times: US Government Sends $288M in Seized Bitcoin, Ether to Coinbase Prime
Crypto Briefing: US Government Moves $288M in Seized Crypto to Coinbase Prime
Cryptopolitan: US Government Moves $984,000 in Seized FTX, Alameda Assets to Coinbase
NEW YORK (AP) — The anticipation. The chase. The powdery, sugar-coated board of gum! For generations of baseball card fans, there was nothing like scrounging up some change and sprinting to the store to buy a wax pack.
Some tore the slightly tacky paper wrapper open and flipped through the cards in an insatiable instant (hence the popular phrase “ripping wax” for opening card packs even today, about 35 years since use of actual wax wrappers ceased). Others did the slow reveal: one card at a time, peeking out of a corner of the pack, or maybe upside down and reversed. However you did it, it was the right way.
“There is something inherently magic about peeling away the paper of the wax pack. There’s something visceral about it, taking the pack to your face and smelling it,” says Brian Pirrip, owner of collectible business M1NT. “It’s something about the mix of all these scents — the wax, the gum, the cardboard — that transports you back to a different time.”
Collecting and trading cards has been part of the baseball ecosystem since the 1860s. But the wax pack emerged as the delivery method in 1951 by Topps.
Opening a pack was thrilling. Who were you going to pull? Whether it was Hall-of-Famer-to-be Brooks Robinson or Sixto Lezcano, a “common” card, the feeling was the same: “an innocent joy,” Pirrip says. You’d then scale them or flip ’em, turn that pack of 15 cards into 20 through some clever trades. The cards went with you everywhere.
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Fueled by history, statistics and mythmaking, baseball card collecting rode the nostalgia craze of the 1980s into big business and overproduction of cards. While saturation of the market brought down prices, the abundance of fan favorites has driven a resurgence of interest in opening wax packs.
Baseball trading cards, gum and packs are displayed, Wednesday July 15, 2026 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Baseball trading cards, gum and packs are displayed, Wednesday July 15, 2026 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
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Read More Sure, you can open modern foil wrappers and chase high-value autos, refractors or other gimmicky cards, But there’s nothing like tearing open a wax pack and chomping on the thin pink rectangle.
Pirrip has taken his love of collecting to 47 states. He has seen countless faces light up when a favorite card surfaces.
On a recent night at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, Pirrip pulled out a box of 1987 Topps cards and had guests rip some wax. Nolan Ryan, Don Mattingly, Roger Clemens and Kirby Puckett drew gasps. But it was all smiles, even for names not uttered in years.
“It instantly transports people to a happier time,” he says. “You can’t get that with anything else.”
Part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more American objects, click here. For more stories on the anniversary, click here.
The anticipation. The chase. The powdery, sugar-coated board of gum! For generations of baseball card fans, there was nothing like scrounging up some change and sprinting to the store to buy a wax pack.
Some tore the slightly tacky paper wrapper open and flipped through the cards in an insatiable instant (hence the popular phrase “ripping wax” for opening card packs even today, about 35 years since use of actual wax wrappers ceased). Others did the slow reveal: one card at a time, peeking out of a corner of the pack, or maybe upside down and reversed. However you did it, it was the right way.
“There is something inherently magic about peeling away the paper of the wax pack. There’s something visceral about it, taking the pack to your face and smelling it,” says Brian Pirrip, owner of collectible business M1NT. “It’s something about the mix of all these scents — the wax, the gum, the cardboard — that transports you back to a different time.”
Collecting and trading cards has been part of the baseball ecosystem since the 1860s. But the wax pack emerged as the delivery method in 1951 by Topps.
Collecting and trading cards has been part of the baseball ecosystem since the 1860s (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)Opening a pack was thrilling. Who were you going to pull? Whether it was Hall-of-Famer-to-be Brooks Robinson or Sixto Lezcano, a “common” card, the feeling was the same: “an innocent joy,” Pirrip says. You’d then scale them or flip ’em, turn that pack of 15 cards into 20 through some clever trades. The cards went with you everywhere.
Fueled by history, statistics and mythmaking, baseball card collecting rode the nostalgia craze of the 1980s into big business and overproduction of cards. While saturation of the market brought down prices, the abundance of fan favorites has driven a resurgence of interest in opening wax packs.
Sure, you can open modern foil wrappers and chase high-value autos, refractors or other gimmicky cards, But there's nothing like tearing open a wax pack and chomping on the thin pink rectangle.
Pirrip has taken his love of collecting to 47 states. He has seen countless faces light up when a favorite card surfaces.
On a recent night at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, Pirrip pulled out a box of 1987 Topps cards and had guests rip some wax. Nolan Ryan, Don Mattingly, Roger Clemens and Kirby Puckett drew gasps. But it was all smiles, even for names not uttered in years.
“It instantly transports people to a happier time,” he says. “You can’t get that with anything else.”
For generations of baseball card fans, there was little like scrounging up some change and sprinting to the local convenience store to buy a wax pack of baseball cards
July 15, 2026 at 2:49 p.m. EDTToday at 2:49 p.m. EDT
Baseball trading cards, gum and packs are displayed, Wednesday July 15, 2026 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)By
NEW YORK — The anticipation. The chase. The powdery, sugar-coated board of gum! For generations of baseball card fans, there was nothing like scrounging up some change and sprinting to the store to buy a wax pack.
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According to monitoring by OnchainLens, Wang Chun, co-founder of F2Pool, unwrapped staked WETH via Lido before transferring 4,950 ETH worth $9.53 million to Binance, sparking suspicions of an impending sell-off.
Crypto clearing startup Glacis Labs has closed a $6.8 million seed round. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, A.GAIN (formerly IDC Ventures), Protein Capital, and Techni Ventures, structured as an equity-plus-token warrant deal. The funding will primarily be used to expand its core product, the ZeroDelta platform, and support the growth of its engineering, compliance, and marketing teams. ZeroDelta is a multi-chain clearing platform that facilitates matching, netting, and final settlement of cross-chain digital assets. It currently focuses on serving stablecoins and has processed over $1 billion in cumulative trading volume to date.
3 hours ago
The United States will issue a $1 Trump gold coin to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced today that the U.S. Mint will produce a $1 commemorative "gold coin" — gold in appearance but containing no actual gold or precious metals — to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The obverse features a portrait of President Trump in a suit and tie, paired with the inscriptions "LIBERTY," "IN GOD WE TRUST," and the dates 1776-2026; the reverse displays the U.S. Great Seal eagle, marked with "$1" and "250." The coin is expected to be released this fall. The move breaks the longstanding tradition that living presidents typically do not appear on U.S. currency, with Bessent describing it as a "lasting symbol of patriotism" and "a commemoration of the legacy of freedom."
3 hours ago
Trump: Data centers are a cash cow and one of the largest drivers of future job growth.
Trump posted that data centers are one of the biggest drivers of future job growth. They are large-scale, powerful, and have broad prospects, serving as cash cows for their respective states. However, for political reasons, the Governor of New York State terminated all data center projects under construction or planned in New York. These companies are now flocking to Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and many other states. The tax revenues and jobs brought by data centers are truly a huge source of wealth! New York State has made a bad decision. All this revenue and other benefits will flow to so-called "red states" (states dominated by the Republican Party) and some "blue states" (states dominated by the Democratic Party). These states not only have lower taxes but also can create record job opportunities. They will bear their own water and electricity costs, and the remaining funds will be returned to state governments and local communities. For the states and communities fortunate enough to secure data centers, these facilities are undoubtedly huge assets. New York State should immediately reverse its policy. We must never allow radical left-wing Democrats to make us lose data centers, artificial intelligence, and all these amazing new technologies, letting them fall into the hands of other countries!
3 hours ago
Goldman Sachs' View: Storage Market Shows Structural Shifts, Partial Replacement of DRAM by NAND for Cost Reduction Becomes a Practical Trend
Citirni analyst Jukan referenced Goldman Sachs’ monthly conference call remarks on the memory sector, noting clients’ strong resistance to DRAM price hikes approaching 30%, leading to a modest downward revision of third-quarter DRAM price growth expectations. Meanwhile, the outlook for NAND has grown more optimistic: AI-related KV cache offloading demand continues to exceed expectations, paired with an emerging trend of using NAND to replace expensive DRAM, further supporting NAND demand. The analyst holds a positive view on SK Hynix’s second-quarter performance, projecting revenue of approximately 85 trillion won and a gross margin of 63%. Relevant stocks include SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk. The commentary also reveals structural shifts in the memory market. Previously, explosive HBM demand from AI servers drove DRAM prices soaring, but once price increases hit the 30% threshold, clients began resisting further hikes, leading to a temporary slowdown in the pace of DRAM price growth. NAND is taking on a new role in AI infrastructure: KV cache is critical in inference scenarios, and using cheaper NAND to partially replace expensive DRAM to reduce costs is becoming a practical trend. This divergence also implies that internal capital rotation within the storage industry chain may continue; investors should exercise greater caution regarding short-term earnings expectations for DRAM-related stocks, while the fundamental improvement in the NAND segment may not yet be fully priced in.
3 hours ago
Kraken Launches Customized Crypto Vaults, Allowing Users to Earn Yields on Idle Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and Stablecoins
Kraken Institutional has announced a partnership with on-chain yield platform Upshift, allowing qualified institutional clients to earn returns on idle Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins and other crypto assets directly within Kraken’s compliant custody framework. Unlike traditional pooled vaults, Upshift will build dedicated, customized vaults for each client, fully tailored to their investment strategies, risk parameters, liquidity needs and asset portfolios. Assets will be allocated to these non-custodial vaults, then deployed to selected on-chain contracts, with clients’ segregated Kraken custody accounts receiving a receipt token.
3 hours ago
SpaceX falls below its $135 IPO price for the first time; US-listed space-related stocks decline across the board.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), during U.S. stock intraday trading, SpaceX (SPCX) fell below its IPO price of $135 for the first time, currently trading at $133.6. U.S. space-related stocks declined across the board: AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) dropped 5.26%, Rocket Lab (RKLB) fell 3.4%, and Redwire (RDW) declined 3.4%.
Tradeable delivers institutional analysis to retail, with verifiable integrity.
Jul 15, 2026
Jul 15, 2026
Most retail traders are - for the most part - working blind. Institutions read onchain flows, liquidity conditions, and sentiment as it moves. Professional traders use high-grade tools, automations, and data analysis. Everyone else gets price and a lagging narrative. By the time that narrative reaches you, the opportunity is gone.
SenseAI (built by the Tradable team) aims to fix this imbalance. It's an autonomous agent that reads crypto markets around the clock and delivers institutional analysis to retail. It tracks three layers at once: macro structure like dominance trends and ETF flows, network health like wallet growth and capital flows, and sentiment like fear/greed positioning and narrative velocity.
How SenseAI ThinksMost market tools either dump raw data on you or hand you a signal with little/no reasoning behind it. SenseAI does neither. It runs as a process. A strategist decides what matters right now, a researcher pulls the relevant data, and an analyst turns those signals into insight. Context, then data, then interpretation, in roughly that order.
That process is built to find two things. Divergence is when price pumps while the network underneath it weakens, and SenseAI flags the fragility before it shows up in the price. Confluence is the opposite, when liquidity expands, onchain activity accelerates, and SenseAI validates that the trend has real strength behind it. Signal over narrative.
Why This Needs OasisAnalysis is really only worth as much as its integrity. If the infrastructure running an agent can be tampered with, or carries a token agenda, the output is harder to fully trust. SenseAI runs inside Oasis ROFL confidential compute, on the Tradable virtual chain on Aurora. The operator can't tamper with execution, and remote attestation proves exactly what code is running. The analysis is cryptographically secured and free from internal bias.
The agent's memory is the other exposure problem. It grows, branches, and gets revisited, and most storage isn't built for that shape of work. Because of this, SenseAI's memory lives on Autonomys Auto Drive. Every message and every piece of context is stored as an encrypted file, with an onchain smart contract holding a pointer to it. The blockchain proves the conversation happened, Auto Drive holds what was said, and only the user holds the keys to read it.
What's Coming NextThe testnet version of SenseAI ships first, where the community can use SenseAI as their information layer. Then mainnet on Aurora, with real token payments live. After that, SenseAI is scheduled to be integrated directly into the Tradable platform, providing detailed insight into what you hold, how you trade, and where you can improve. Give individual traders the edge that used to belong to institutions.
More details coming soon. Join the community here to learn more about Tradable.
Team Secret just made three roster moves that signal the organization is done tinkering and ready to compete. The Philippine-based esports squad signed players STYRON and naTz alongside new head coach Peter “Spin” Bradford, all ahead of the Valorant Champions Tour Pacific Stage 2.
The group stage matches kick off on July 16, 2026, giving the revamped roster roughly three weeks to gel.
What the roster changes actually look like STYRON comes to Team Secret with competitive experience from both DSG and MTV. NaTz rounds out the player additions, joining a roster that already includes kellyS, Sylvan, and TenTen from earlier iterations of the squad.
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Spin, whose full name is Peter Bradford, replaces Jose “Rbtx” Jamir as head coach. Bradford brings pedigree from stints with Gen.G Esports and Mindfreak.
The reshuffling was partly triggered by the departure of JessieVash from the roster.
The announcement dropped on June 25, 2026, leaving less than a month before matches begin.
Team Secret’s broader ambitions, including crypto Team Secret originally launched as a Dota 2 organization back in 2016 and ventured into Valorant in 2021. Their presence in the VCT Pacific league puts them in one of the most competitive regional circuits in professional Valorant.
Team Secret established a partnership with the Checkmate Ecosystem in January 2026, integrating the CHECK token into parts of their operations. The partnership enables CHECK to be used for merchandise purchases and tournament entry fees. The player signings and the crypto partnership exist in separate lanes and were not directly linked.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
WOO X, a leading global centralized digital asset exchange, and Payward Services, the B2B infrastructure platform from Payward, the company behind global crypto platform Kraken, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to bring crypto trading to WOO X’s European users through Payward Services’ trading-as-a-service offering.
Under the agreement, the companies intend to enable spot crypto trading for WOO X’s EU users powered by Payward’s regulated European infrastructure and licensing. WOO X will join a growing roster of financial institutions using Payward Services’ trading-as-a-service offering, including bunq, one of Europe’s leading neobanks.
“We’re excited to bring WOO X the power of fifteen years of Payward’s regulated infrastructure, creating an easy path to meet customer demand with an expanded trading offering and the right licenses to unlock crypto trading across the EU. When partners work with Payward Services, they can launch crypto trading in a few weeks without building complex in-house infrastructure,” said Mark Greenberg, Global Head of Payward Services.
About WOO X WOO X is a leading global centralized digital asset exchange built by traders, for traders. Backed by YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs) and engineered by a premier team of quantitative traders, engineers, and technologists originating from top-tier Web2 and Web3 projects, WOO X delivers an elite trading environment tailored for both retail and institutional investors. The platform is globally recognized for its superior trade execution, offering deep aggregated liquidity, ultra-tight spreads, and zero-slippage execution.
Prioritizing user trust and platform integrity, WOO X features an industry-first, live-updating Proof of Reserves and Liabilities transparency dashboard. The exchange offers advanced trading architecture, fully customizable workspaces, and professional-grade infrastructure that supports flexible, professional withdrawal standards alongside top-tier asset custody solutions. Driven by a corporate culture of compliance, technical excellence, and relentless innovation, WOO X continues to pioneer transparent, high-performance trading environments for the global digital asset ecosystem.
For more information, visit https://www.wooxpro.com/ ; https://woox.io/
Payward Services is the B2B infrastructure platform built on 15 years of operating Kraken, one of the world’s largest crypto platforms. Through a single integration, partners can access crypto and tokenized equity trading, fiat and stablecoin payments, yield, lending, prediction markets and derivatives. Fintechs, banks, brokerages, payment providers, exchanges, consumer tech platforms and asset managers can use Payward Services to offer digital assets to their clients without building the stack themselves.
For more information, visit https://www.payward.com/payward-services .
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Cryptocurrencies and related instruments involve significant risks, including extreme volatility. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, experience, and risk tolerance before engaging in any crypto-related activities. We strongly recommend consulting a qualified independent financial advisor before making any decisions.
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According to monitoring by Beating, Apple is seeking to acquire an artificial intelligence chip company. The tech giant’s self-developed M2 Ultra chip has proven insufficient to run advanced AI workloads, forcing it to rely on NVIDIA. The future version of Apple’s AI server chip, codenamed "Baltra", was originally scheduled to ship this year but has been delayed.
Crypto clearing startup Glacis Labs has closed a $6.8 million seed round. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, A.GAIN (formerly IDC Ventures), Protein Capital, and Techni Ventures, structured as an equity-plus-token warrant deal. The funding will primarily be used to expand its core product, the ZeroDelta platform, and support the growth of its engineering, compliance, and marketing teams. ZeroDelta is a multi-chain clearing platform that facilitates matching, netting, and final settlement of cross-chain digital assets. It currently focuses on serving stablecoins and has processed over $1 billion in cumulative trading volume to date.
2 hours ago
The United States will issue a $1 Trump gold coin to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced today that the U.S. Mint will produce a $1 commemorative "gold coin" — gold in appearance but containing no actual gold or precious metals — to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The obverse features a portrait of President Trump in a suit and tie, paired with the inscriptions "LIBERTY," "IN GOD WE TRUST," and the dates 1776-2026; the reverse displays the U.S. Great Seal eagle, marked with "$1" and "250." The coin is expected to be released this fall. The move breaks the longstanding tradition that living presidents typically do not appear on U.S. currency, with Bessent describing it as a "lasting symbol of patriotism" and "a commemoration of the legacy of freedom."
2 hours ago
Trump: Data centers are a cash cow and one of the largest drivers of future job growth.
Trump posted that data centers are one of the biggest drivers of future job growth. They are large-scale, powerful, and have broad prospects, serving as cash cows for their respective states. However, for political reasons, the Governor of New York State terminated all data center projects under construction or planned in New York. These companies are now flocking to Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and many other states. The tax revenues and jobs brought by data centers are truly a huge source of wealth! New York State has made a bad decision. All this revenue and other benefits will flow to so-called "red states" (states dominated by the Republican Party) and some "blue states" (states dominated by the Democratic Party). These states not only have lower taxes but also can create record job opportunities. They will bear their own water and electricity costs, and the remaining funds will be returned to state governments and local communities. For the states and communities fortunate enough to secure data centers, these facilities are undoubtedly huge assets. New York State should immediately reverse its policy. We must never allow radical left-wing Democrats to make us lose data centers, artificial intelligence, and all these amazing new technologies, letting them fall into the hands of other countries!
2 hours ago
Goldman Sachs' View: Storage Market Shows Structural Shifts, Partial Replacement of DRAM by NAND for Cost Reduction Becomes a Practical Trend
Citirni analyst Jukan referenced Goldman Sachs’ monthly conference call remarks on the memory sector, noting clients’ strong resistance to DRAM price hikes approaching 30%, leading to a modest downward revision of third-quarter DRAM price growth expectations. Meanwhile, the outlook for NAND has grown more optimistic: AI-related KV cache offloading demand continues to exceed expectations, paired with an emerging trend of using NAND to replace expensive DRAM, further supporting NAND demand. The analyst holds a positive view on SK Hynix’s second-quarter performance, projecting revenue of approximately 85 trillion won and a gross margin of 63%. Relevant stocks include SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk. The commentary also reveals structural shifts in the memory market. Previously, explosive HBM demand from AI servers drove DRAM prices soaring, but once price increases hit the 30% threshold, clients began resisting further hikes, leading to a temporary slowdown in the pace of DRAM price growth. NAND is taking on a new role in AI infrastructure: KV cache is critical in inference scenarios, and using cheaper NAND to partially replace expensive DRAM to reduce costs is becoming a practical trend. This divergence also implies that internal capital rotation within the storage industry chain may continue; investors should exercise greater caution regarding short-term earnings expectations for DRAM-related stocks, while the fundamental improvement in the NAND segment may not yet be fully priced in.
2 hours ago
Kraken Launches Customized Crypto Vaults, Allowing Users to Earn Yields on Idle Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and Stablecoins
Kraken Institutional has announced a partnership with on-chain yield platform Upshift, allowing qualified institutional clients to earn returns on idle Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins and other crypto assets directly within Kraken’s compliant custody framework. Unlike traditional pooled vaults, Upshift will build dedicated, customized vaults for each client, fully tailored to their investment strategies, risk parameters, liquidity needs and asset portfolios. Assets will be allocated to these non-custodial vaults, then deployed to selected on-chain contracts, with clients’ segregated Kraken custody accounts receiving a receipt token.
2 hours ago
SpaceX falls below its $135 IPO price for the first time; US-listed space-related stocks decline across the board.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), during U.S. stock intraday trading, SpaceX (SPCX) fell below its IPO price of $135 for the first time, currently trading at $133.6. U.S. space-related stocks declined across the board: AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) dropped 5.26%, Rocket Lab (RKLB) fell 3.4%, and Redwire (RDW) declined 3.4%.
Apple’s in-house silicon has earned a reputation for punching above its weight. But when it comes to the raw computational muscle needed for advanced AI workloads, the company’s chips are getting thoroughly outclassed, and Apple knows it.
The M2 Ultra, which Apple has deployed for some server-side AI processing, delivers roughly 31.6 TOPS (tera operations per second) in machine learning performance. For context, Nvidia’s RTX 4090 hits 1,321 TOPS. That’s not a gap. That’s a canyon with a river at the bottom.
Broadcom deal and the $30 billion bet on custom silicon Apple has responded with its wallet. The company announced a multiyear partnership with Broadcom worth over $30 billion, focused on custom silicon components and wireless connectivity technologies manufactured in the United States.
The deal, unveiled around July 8, 2026, represents one of Apple’s most ambitious semiconductor commitments to date. It’s designed to bolster domestic chip production at a time when geopolitical tensions continue to make global supply chains look fragile.
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The company has also engaged in partnerships with Intel to advance US chip design and manufacturing, along with explorations involving Nvidia and Google for Siri-related workloads.
The Q.ai acquisition and Apple’s AI shopping spree Beyond silicon partnerships, Apple has been writing checks for AI talent. In January 2026, the company acquired Q.ai, an Israeli AI startup, for approximately $2 billion. The deal is aimed at enhancing Siri’s capabilities, specifically in non-verbal communication through improved facial expression analysis.
The Q.ai purchase ranks among Apple’s largest acquisitions ever. Apple has completed more than 100 acquisitions to date, with a pronounced recent emphasis on AI and machine learning companies.
Why the M2 Ultra gap matters more than you think The performance disparity between Apple’s M2 Ultra and Nvidia’s hardware isn’t just an engineering footnote. It has real implications for Apple’s ability to compete in AI-powered services.
Apple’s 31.6 TOPS versus Nvidia’s 1,321 TOPS means Apple would need roughly 42 M2 Ultra chips to match what a single RTX 4090 can do in machine learning tasks.
What this means for investors First, the $30 billion Broadcom deal is enormous even by Apple’s standards. It locks both companies into a long-term collaboration that could reshape how custom AI chips are designed and manufactured in the US.
Second, Apple’s willingness to spend $2 billion on a single AI acquisition suggests the company’s M&A budget for AI is expanding significantly. With more than 100 acquisitions already completed and a clear strategic focus on machine learning, the pipeline of potential targets in the AI startup ecosystem could see valuation inflation as Apple competes with Google, Microsoft, and others for the same talent and technology.
Third, the exploration of partnerships with Nvidia and Google for Siri workloads raises an interesting question about Apple’s competitive posture. Historically, Apple has been allergic to depending on rivals for core product capabilities. If it’s now willing to lean on Nvidia’s compute and Google’s AI infrastructure, that signals either pragmatism or desperation, and the distinction matters for how you value the stock.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
The Injective ecosystem just added another milestone to its growing AI ambitions. The blockchain has officially become a core member of the x402 foundation under the Linux foundation, joining a roster that includes Google, AWS, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, Circle, and other major industry participants.
It’s a notable development, especially as the race to build infrastructure for AI-driven finance starts shifting from theory to deployment.
AI Infrastructure Moves Beyond The HYPEThe announcement comes just a day after Injective unveiled its new AI agent SDK, giving developers a toolkit to build autonomous AI applications directly on-chain.
According to the protocol, developers can create AI agents capable of owning digital assets, executing trades, tokenizing assets, and conducting native blockchain transaction from launch. Rather than acting as simple automated bots, these agents are designed to participate directly in decentralized financial activity. That expansion fits neatly with Injective’s broader focus on agentic finance.
Why The x402 Foundation MattersAs part of the x402 foundation, Injective will help contribute to an open standard for internet-native payments.
The x402 protocol is designed to enable AI agents, APIs, and applications to exchange value seamlessly across the internet. As autonomous software becomes increasingly capable of making financial decisions, payment infrastructure becomes just as important as the intelligence behind it.
Injective says the goal is to help build that foundation alongside other technology and payments leaders already participating in the initiative.
Injective Network Activity Continues To ScaleBeyond new partnerships, if we look at Loading profile preview then its protocol has surely highlighted the scale of its existing AI ecosystem. As per Injective post, thousands of autonomous AI agents are already operating across the network using INJ token.
They further said that more than 2.9 billion transactions have been processed as agentic finance continues expanding on-chain.
For Injective, the combination of its AI Agent SDK and membership in the x402 foundation signals a broader push toward infrastructure built specifically for autonomous commerce.
The timing is notable as interest in AI-focused blockchain infrastructure continues to accelerate. A recent Coinpedia research report projected the AI agent crypto market could evolve into a $200 billion opportunity by 2030, driven by enterprise AI adoption, autonomous software, and expanding on-chain financial infrastructure.
Whether that vision translates into wider adoption remains to be seen, but the Injective protocol is clearly positioning itself at the intersection of blockchain, payments, and AI.
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Injective has officially joined the x402 Foundation as a Member under the governance of the Linux Foundation. The Foundation brings together 40 organizations building an open standard for internet-native payments over HTTP. Its membership spans cloud infrastructure, global payments, stablecoins and blockchain networks, with Premier Members including AWS, Google, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase and Circle. Injective will contribute its experience building financial infrastructure for users, institutions and AI agents operating onchain.
This membership comes as autonomous software starts doing more than finding information or recommending an action. AI agents are beginning to call paid APIs, purchase data, execute transactions and coordinate with other agents. To operate independently, they need a payment layer that works at machine speed without relying on a person to create an account, enter card details or approve every request.
Payments Built Into The Internetx402 embeds payment directly into the HTTP request and response cycle. When an application or agent requests a paid service, the server returns an HTTP 402 Payment Required response with the price. The client signs the payment, the transaction settles and the server returns the requested data or service.
The result is a native way for applications, APIs and agents to exchange value online. No subscription is required. No API key needs to be issued and maintained. Services can charge per request, while agents can discover a price, pay it and continue a workflow programmatically.
The x402 Foundation gives that standard an open home. Coinbase contributed the protocol to the Linux Foundation, where members can develop it through formal, vendor-neutral governance. That structure matters because agentic commerce cannot depend on one company, one network or one payment method. Builders need a standard they can implement across systems without locking their applications into a closed stack.
Why x402 Fits Injectivex402 is already live on Injective EVM, giving humans and AI agents access to stablecoin payment rails on a chain built for financial execution. An x402 payment can settle in a single Injective block, approximately 650 milliseconds. Developers can turn an API endpoint into a pay-per-request service, accept Circle’s USDC and use INJ, Injective’s native gas token, to cover network fees.
Injective has processed more than 2.9 billion onchain transactions to date. The network currently runs with a block time near 0.64 seconds and a median transaction cost of about $0.0001. That combination gives agents the speed and cost structure needed to make frequent, low-value payments that would not make economic sense through traditional billing systems.
This can change how software buys services. An agent can pay a cent for market data, purchase access to a model, call a specialized execution service or compensate another agent for a signal. Each payment can happen inside the same workflow that requested the service, with an onchain receipt that applications can verify.
The AI Agent SDK Gives Builders The Execution LayerInjective also introduced the AI Agent SDK this week. The package brings the Injective CLI, MCP servers and agent skills into one installation, removing the need for developers to assemble each component separately.
The SDK connects AI development tools with Injective’s onchain infrastructure. Through the Injective MCP server, agents can access market data, trade perpetual futures, transfer spot assets, bridge across networks and submit raw EVM transactions. Developers can combine these tools with Injective’s exchange, payment and tokenization infrastructure to build agents that hold and manage assets through onchain wallets, trade, transact and participate in tokenization workflows.
INJ powers the network fees behind those actions. x402 gives agents a way to pay for external services. Together, the two systems connect application-level payments with onchain financial execution.
Builders are already moving in this direction. The public ERC-8004 registry currently puts the agent ecosystem on Injective at almost 1,000 registered agent identities. This puts Injective as one of the largest agent ecosystems in the entire onchain economy. These identities give agents a verified onchain profile that records their token ID, capabilities, fee recipient and activity history.
“Injective has settled more than 2.9 billion transactions to date, and the pace has climbed sharply this past year as x402 payments took hold on the chain. Some of the most active onchain agent apps are already live here, running on AI native modules that let any developer onboard without rebuilding their stack. For us, agentic finance is already in mainnet production and onboarding builders shipping entirely new forms of agentic applications. Before long manual payments, where a person approves one transaction at a time, will become the exception, and value will clear at the speed agents work, in under a second and for a fraction of a cent. We joined the x402 Foundation to accelerate that vision, where users, institutions and agents can trade, transact and tokenize onchain at scale.”
Eric Chen, CEO of Injective Foundation
The next era of the internet will include software that can make decisions, purchase resources and execute financial actions without stopping for manual input at every step. That system needs open identity, programmable payments and financial infrastructure that can settle value as fast as agents operate, at the millisecond level.
Injective is building that stack in production. The AI Agent SDK gives developers the tools to build autonomous applications. Injective’s native financial infrastructure gives those applications markets, assets and execution. x402 gives them an open payment standard for exchanging value across the internet.
Joining the x402 Foundation lets Injective help develop that standard alongside leaders across payments, cloud infrastructure and blockchain. The goal is direct. Make internet-native payments open, interoperable and ready for an economy where people, institutions and agents all transact onchain.
Build With x402 On InjectiveDevelopers can use x402 on Injective today to create pay-per-request APIs, stablecoin payment flows and services designed for autonomous agents.
Build with x402 on Injective
About InjectiveInjective is a lightning fast interoperable layer one blockchain optimized for building premier Web3 finance applications. Injective provides developers with powerful plug-and-play modules for creating unmatched dApps. INJ is the native asset that powers Injective and its rapidly growing ecosystem. Injective is incubated by Binance and is backed by prominent investors such as Jump Crypto, Pantera and Mark Cuban.
15th of July: The BNB Chain Foundation has officially announced the successful completion of the 36th quarterly BNB token burn by BNB Chain. This marks our third burn of 2026.
Here are the facts and figures from the latest burn:
Auto-Burn (Total BNB burned): 1,615,827.795 BNB Approximate value in USD at the time of burn completion: ~$931,702,464 Transaction ID (TXID) for BNB burn: View transaction Remaining to be burned: Check real-time data here Remaining total supply: 133,166,127.91 BNB at time of writing 15 July, 2026 at 10:35AM UTC.
What You Need to Know About the BNB Burn
BNB is the native coin of the BNB Chain ecosystem, essential for powering its multifaceted Web3 environment. It supports transactions on the BNB Smart Chain (BSC), the opBNB L2s, and BNB Greenfield blockchain. Besides transaction fees, BNB serves as a governance token, granting holders the ability to participate in the BNB Chain’s decentralized on-chain governance. Additionally, BNB functions as a strategic reserve asset and enters the radar of more mainstream financial institutions, driving ecosystem growth and incentivizing adoption.
Following its mainnet launch on April 18, 2019, BNB transitioned from the Ethereum Network to BNB Chain. “Build and Build” is the philosophy behind BNB, reflecting its role in fostering development within the ecosystem. BNB employs an Auto-Burn system to gradually reduce its total supply to 100,000,000 BNB. The burn amount is adjusted based on BNB’s price and the number of blocks generated on BSC during a quarter, ensuring transparency and predictability.
BNB Auto Burn
The BNB Auto-Burn provides an independently auditable, objective process. The figures are reported quarterly, and the mechanism is independent of the Binance centralized exchange.
This quarter’s burn and future burns will occur directly on BSC due to the BNB Chain Fusion. The corresponding BNB amount will be sent to the “blackhole” address: 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000dEaD.
Note: Due to the recent Lorentz, Maxwell and Fermi upgrades, BSC is producing blocks more frequently, compared with the time when the Auto Burn formula was originally defined. The parameters used in the formula have been adjusted to keep the idea and spirit consistent.
BNB Real-time Burn
Additionally, BNB implements a real-time burning mechanism based on gas fees. BSC validators determine the ratio of gas fees collected in each block, which is burned at a fixed rate. Since the introduction of BEP95, roughly 291K BNB has been burnt under this mechanism.
About BNB Chain
BNB Chain is one of the largest and most active blockchain ecosystems in the world, supported by a global community of developers and users. With high throughput, low transaction costs, and full EVM compatibility, BNB Chain powers scalable applications across finance, gaming, and the broader Web3 economy. For more information, users can visit www.bnbchain.org.
Pact Labs just landed $7 million in Series A funding led by Tether, and the money has a very specific job: build the pipes that connect a regulated stablecoin to the mundane but massive world of payroll and payments.
The round, announced on July 14, is designed to accelerate Pact Labs’ integration of USA₮, Tether’s US-regulated dollar-backed stablecoin, into a broader suite of financial tools. Think earned wage access, credit products, and payment rails, all running on the Aptos blockchain.
What Pact Labs actually does Pact Labs operates the PACT Protocol, an on-chain lending and securitization platform that takes traditional lending processes, like issuing a loan and then packaging that loan for investors, and runs them on a blockchain instead of through legacy banking software.
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PACT Protocol has facilitated nearly $2 billion in on-chain loans, serving roughly 500,000 users through seven fintech partners.
The $7 million from Tether will fund development of wallet infrastructure, data tools, payment systems, and smart contracts that bridge the PACT Protocol to fintech platforms.
Why Aptos, and why now PACT Protocol migrated to the Aptos blockchain on February 20, 2025, following incubation support from the Aptos Foundation. That migration was not a soft launch. Over $1 billion in assets moved from its previous home on Celo to Aptos on the very first day.
Aptos runs on the Move programming language, which was originally developed at Meta for the now-defunct Diem project. The blockchain offers sub-second transaction finality and high throughput.
USA₮ and the regulated stablecoin race USA₮ is not to be confused with USDT, Tether’s flagship stablecoin that dominates global crypto trading volume. USA₮ launched on January 27, 2026, and was developed through Anchorage Digital Bank, making it a US-regulated product.
Tether’s decision to lead a funding round for infrastructure that specifically supports USA₮ signals that the company views regulated stablecoins as a growth market. By investing in the plumbing that makes USA₮ useful for payroll and credit, Tether is essentially creating demand for its own product.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
At 14:18 UTC on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, a single Arbitrum transaction bundled twenty calls into Ostium’s trading contracts and walked out with roughly $11.86 million in USDC. The recipient wallet had opened its first position minutes earlier with a rounding-error deposit. By the time most people saw the security alerts, the money was already moving out.
Ostium is one of the more credible names in on-chain real-world-asset trading: a perpetuals exchange for stocks, commodities, indices, and currencies, backed by General Catalyst and Jump Crypto. What makes it work is a custom price layer that decides what every trade settles at. That layer is exactly what got turned against it, and not on some exotic asset either.
This piece reflects what was verifiable on the afternoon of July 15, 2026, a few hours after the first transaction. The on-chain facts here (the transaction, the contracts, the amount that moved, the receiving wallet) are confirmed directly against block explorers and are cited below so you can check them yourself. What is not settled is the reconciled total loss and the exact authorization failure that made the attack possible; both await Ostium’s own accounting. Treat the confirmed transactions as bedrock and any single loss total as provisional until the team or an independent analyst publishes one.
What Is Ostium, and Why Does It Matter? Ostium is a decentralized perpetuals exchange on Arbitrum whose pitch is real-world assets: leveraged exposure to gold, oil, the S&P, EUR/USD, or individual equities, all from a self-custodial wallet, on markets that traditionally close at 4pm and gate retail behind brokers. It is one of the clearer product-market fits in the RWA narrative. It also lists the major crypto pairs, BTC and ETH among them, and that detail matters more than it looks.
The traction is real. Ostium was founded by Harvard alumni, raised a $3.5 million seed in 2023 led by General Catalyst and LocalGlobe (with SIG, DeFi Alliance, and Balaji Srinivasan among the backers), and in December 2025 added a $20 million Series A co-led by General Catalyst and Jump Crypto, bringing total funding to roughly $27.8 million. As of its December 2025 raise, Ostium had advertised more than $25 billion in cumulative trading volume, including around $5 billion in metals. On July 15, DefiLlama showed Ostium’s TVL near $63 million.
Traders’ collateral and the counterparty liquidity that pays out winning trades sit in Ostium’s vault, called the OLP (Ostium Liquidity Pool). Liquidity providers deposit USDC and, in effect, take the other side of the book. That vault is what an attacker wants to reach, and on July 15 someone found a path to it.
How Ostium Prices a Trade, and Where the Trust Sits To understand the exploit you have to understand how Ostium gets a price at all.
A crypto perp can read an on-chain price from deep DEX liquidity. Gold and Apple can’t be priced that way, because they don’t live on-chain. So Ostium built its own pull-based oracle system, with real-world-asset feeds operated by Stork Network and crypto feeds from Chainlink Data Streams. In a pull design, prices aren’t sitting on-chain continuously. Instead, a signed price report is delivered on-chain at the moment it’s needed: when a trade opens, when it closes, when a limit order or liquidation fires. Automated “keeper” or forwarder services carry those signed reports to the contract and trigger settlement.
This is a sensible architecture for assets that trade off-chain. It also concentrates enormous trust in one place. Whoever is authorized to submit a price report effectively decides the number your PnL is calculated against. If that authorization leaks, or if the check that a submitted price is fresh and legitimate is missing or weak, then the party feeding the price can trade against a number they chose. That is the failure surface, and it is a close cousin of the one that broke Resolv’s USR stablecoin in March, where a single privileged role could mint without on-chain limits.
The Exploit: What the Transaction Shows Here is what the chain shows for the primary transaction, 0x359f8c05…d4870e0, confirmed on both Arbiscan and Blockscout:
It succeeded at 14:18:48 UTC on July 15, 2026. It called executeBatch, running twenty calls that alternated between Ostium’s Trading contract (0x6D0bA1f9…7702411, which Arbiscan labels “Ostium: Trading”) and a contract named OstiumPrivatePriceUpKeep (0xB71ec9eB…3d36), the piece that delivers signed prices on-chain. USDC moved through Ostium’s Trading Storage, Trading Callbacks, and Vault contracts along the way. Every trade in the batch was on pairIndex 0. Ostium’s own subgraph maps pair 0 to BTC/USD, so this was not an exotic real-world-asset market. It was Bitcoin. The trade events show the position opened at a delivered price of exactly $5,000 and closed at roughly $60,000. Bitcoin does not move twelvefold inside one atomic transaction, so at least one of those prices was fabricated and delivered on demand; the exactly-round $5,000 open is the obvious tell. A single deposit of about 1,000 USDC went in. Roughly 11,861,520 USDC came back out to the attacker’s wallet. The same batch that opened and closed the trades also drove OstiumPrivatePriceUpKeep to deliver the $5,000 and $60,000 prices those trades settled against. Whoever sent it therefore held, or had usurped, the right to submit prices, and used it to stand on both sides at once: the price authority and the counterparty were the same operation. The batch came from 0xD1794196…85869 through an entry contract at 0xfE12F636…5bd2E; the trades and the payout belong to 0x321df194…bfd9.
You do not need anyone’s alert to read this. The prices are right there in the trade events: open a Bitcoin long at $5,000, close it near $60,000, collect the difference from the vault, and a ~1,000 USDC deposit comes back as ~$11.86 million. That is not an inference from fund flows, it is in the price fields the contracts recorded. What the trace cannot tell you is how the attacker was allowed to deliver those prices at all, whether a signing key was compromised, a malicious price upkeep was registered, or a validation check on submitted prices was missing or weak. That distinction is the whole post-mortem, and only Ostium can close it.
Here is the part that should unsettle people most. The attacker did this on BTC/USD, the most liquid and most easily cross-checked market Ostium runs, not on gold, not on a thinly traded stock, not on an overnight forex cross. If the pricing layer will accept $5,000 for Bitcoin, the asset was never the point. The authorization to submit a price was.
The Cashout The receiving wallet, 0x321df194…bfd9, is a fresh externally owned account with no prior history and no Arbiscan label yet. It took in the $11.86 million from the primary transaction and additional USDC from several sibling batch transactions sent the same way.
The money did not stay. A few hours later, the wallet held no USDC at all, just about 99.6 ETH (gas-scale, a low six figures) and a spoofed lookalike “ETH” token of the kind that gets airdropped to any address in the news. Where the stablecoin went from there, whether swapped, split across wallets, or bridged off Arbitrum, I did not trace, and the balance snapshot may not be complete. What is clear is that it moved out fast, which is the entire point of moving before a protocol can react. It is the same race Resolv’s attacker ran in March, and the same reason “we’ve paused the protocol” statements so often land after the funds are already gone.
How Big Was the Hit? This is where the honest answer is a range, not a headline.
Figure Value Status Largest single transaction ~$11.86M USDC to the attacker Tx confirmed on-chain; amount read from explorer transfer logs Additional sibling transactions Several, same pattern Confirmed they exist; total not cleanly summed Ostium TVL on July 15 ~$63M (DefiLlama) Live figure; may lag the incident So the floor is real: at least the better part of $12 million left in the primary transaction, going by the explorer transfer logs, and the same wallet pulled more through several sibling batches I did not fully sum. Loss estimates circulating on launch day ran higher, into the high teens of millions, alongside a “$34 million vault, 35% drained” framing. I could not confirm those numbers, and note that a $34 million liquidity vault could sit inside the ~$63 million total TVL DefiLlama shows, so even those two are not necessarily in conflict. The honest position is a confirmed floor and an open total until Ostium or an independent analyst publishes a reconciled figure.
The Uncomfortable Questions How did an attacker become authorized to submit prices? Everything about this incident routes back to that question. A pull oracle only works if the set of parties allowed to deliver signed prices is tightly controlled and their reports are validated on arrival. Whether the attacker obtained a legitimate signer key, got a malicious forwarder registered, or exploited a gap in how reports are checked, the outcome is the same: they got to name the price that settled their own trades.
Where were the on-chain guardrails? The recurring lesson of 2026’s exploits is that off-chain trust needs on-chain limits behind it. Was there a bound on how far a settlement price could deviate from the last accepted one? A freshness or timestamp check strict enough to reject a “future-dated” report? A per-block or per-account cap on vault payouts? The batched, atomic nature of the theft suggests at least one of those checks was missing or bypassable.
What about the audits? This was not an unreviewed protocol. Zellic audited the contracts in early 2024 and returned 19 findings, two of them critical, with the price-upkeep and vault contracts in scope; it even raised upkeep-specific issues at the time, one titled “Chainlink feed ID not checked in upkeep.” Pashov Audit Group ran a further review in September 2025, and Ostium also lists a ThreeSigma audit, a Chaos Labs economic audit, and an Immunefi bug bounty. Two things stand out anyway. Zellic’s 2024 engagement expressly put “key custody” and “infrastructure relating to the project” out of scope, which is close to where the abuse of a registered PriceUpKeep would live. And the September 2025 review covered only the trading-engine contracts, not any price-upkeep or vault contract. The exact component the attacker used, OstiumPrivatePriceUpKeep, was either reviewed years ago on an older design or left out of the most recent pass entirely. Audits cut risk; they do not certify its absence, least of all for the price-authorization plumbing that sits at the very edge of what a contract audit covers.
The Asset Was Never the Point The intuitive worry about an RWA perp is the exotic feed. Gold, a single stock, an overnight forex cross: none of them have a deep on-chain market to check a submitted price against, so a bad number is harder to catch. That worry is legitimate and worth keeping. But it is not what happened here. The attack ran on Bitcoin, where a fabricated $5,000 print should have been the easiest thing in the world to reject. The weak point sat upstream of the asset, in whatever governs who may submit a price and whether the contracts bound-check it before paying out. An RWA venue carries that risk on top of the exotic-feed risk, not instead of it.
Ostium is not a fly-by-night project. It has real funding, real volume, and a design many people saw as one of the better expressions of the RWA thesis, this site’s coverage of onchain forex and tokenized metals included. That is exactly why the incident matters. A well-funded, name-backed team let its pricing layer accept $5,000 for the most-watched asset in crypto. The custom-oracle problem is not a rough edge on some immature protocol, and it is not confined to the exotic assets everyone was worried about. It is a category risk that the whole “bring global markets on-chain” movement has to solve before it asks users to post real size.
What Happens Next In the hours after the attack, Ostium had not posted an official statement or a loss figure. Expect the usual sequence: an acknowledgment, a pause of affected functions, a claim that the team is investigating and tracing funds, and eventually a post-mortem. The questions that post-mortem needs to answer are specific: how price-submission authorization was secured, what validation a submitted report had to pass, whether a key was compromised or a forwarder maliciously registered, and what caps or circuit breakers stood between a “profitable” trade and the vault.
For anyone with funds in Ostium, particularly OLP liquidity providers who sit on the counterparty side of every trade, the practical advice is the same it always is in the first hours of an incident: check your exposure directly, watch Ostium’s official channels rather than secondhand figures, and don’t assume a stated total is final.
And for everyone building or allocating in RWA land, file this next to Resolv. The mechanisms differ, but both trace back to the same weak point: a single privileged component, trusted off-chain, with too little standing between it and the money on-chain. RWA protocols are lining up to put a lot more of the world’s assets behind components exactly like that. This is what it looks like when one of them gives.
Uniswap has announced the launch of Uniswap Trading Tools, adding three new on-chain automated trading functions to its existing Uniswap AI toolkit: the DCA Bot, which supports periodic token purchases at set intervals; the Index Bot, enabling custom token baskets and weights, one-click purchases, and periodic rebalancing; and Copy Trading, which tracks specified wallets and automatically mirrors their trading actions within predefined limits. All operations are executed via the Uniswap API, with two AI execution modes: Confirm Mode and Autonomous Mode, and compatibility with tokenized assets. Uniswap stated that since the launch of its AI toolkit in February this year, it has recorded over 7,500 installations, supporting multiple blockchains including Robinhood Chain, Base, Arbitrum, and Ethereum Mainnet.
Crypto clearing startup Glacis Labs has closed a $6.8 million seed round. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, A.GAIN (formerly IDC Ventures), Protein Capital, and Techni Ventures, structured as an equity-plus-token warrant deal. The funding will primarily be used to expand its core product, the ZeroDelta platform, and support the growth of its engineering, compliance, and marketing teams. ZeroDelta is a multi-chain clearing platform that facilitates matching, netting, and final settlement of cross-chain digital assets. It currently focuses on serving stablecoins and has processed over $1 billion in cumulative trading volume to date.
24 minutes ago
The United States will issue a $1 Trump gold coin to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced today that the U.S. Mint will produce a $1 commemorative "gold coin" — gold in appearance but containing no actual gold or precious metals — to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The obverse features a portrait of President Trump in a suit and tie, paired with the inscriptions "LIBERTY," "IN GOD WE TRUST," and the dates 1776-2026; the reverse displays the U.S. Great Seal eagle, marked with "$1" and "250." The coin is expected to be released this fall. The move breaks the longstanding tradition that living presidents typically do not appear on U.S. currency, with Bessent describing it as a "lasting symbol of patriotism" and "a commemoration of the legacy of freedom."
24 minutes ago
Trump: Data centers are a cash cow and one of the largest drivers of future job growth.
Trump posted that data centers are one of the biggest drivers of future job growth. They are large-scale, powerful, and have broad prospects, serving as cash cows for their respective states. However, for political reasons, the Governor of New York State terminated all data center projects under construction or planned in New York. These companies are now flocking to Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and many other states. The tax revenues and jobs brought by data centers are truly a huge source of wealth! New York State has made a bad decision. All this revenue and other benefits will flow to so-called "red states" (states dominated by the Republican Party) and some "blue states" (states dominated by the Democratic Party). These states not only have lower taxes but also can create record job opportunities. They will bear their own water and electricity costs, and the remaining funds will be returned to state governments and local communities. For the states and communities fortunate enough to secure data centers, these facilities are undoubtedly huge assets. New York State should immediately reverse its policy. We must never allow radical left-wing Democrats to make us lose data centers, artificial intelligence, and all these amazing new technologies, letting them fall into the hands of other countries!
24 minutes ago
Goldman Sachs' View: Storage Market Shows Structural Shifts, Partial Replacement of DRAM by NAND for Cost Reduction Becomes a Practical Trend
Citirni analyst Jukan referenced Goldman Sachs’ monthly conference call remarks on the memory sector, noting clients’ strong resistance to DRAM price hikes approaching 30%, leading to a modest downward revision of third-quarter DRAM price growth expectations. Meanwhile, the outlook for NAND has grown more optimistic: AI-related KV cache offloading demand continues to exceed expectations, paired with an emerging trend of using NAND to replace expensive DRAM, further supporting NAND demand. The analyst holds a positive view on SK Hynix’s second-quarter performance, projecting revenue of approximately 85 trillion won and a gross margin of 63%. Relevant stocks include SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk. The commentary also reveals structural shifts in the memory market. Previously, explosive HBM demand from AI servers drove DRAM prices soaring, but once price increases hit the 30% threshold, clients began resisting further hikes, leading to a temporary slowdown in the pace of DRAM price growth. NAND is taking on a new role in AI infrastructure: KV cache is critical in inference scenarios, and using cheaper NAND to partially replace expensive DRAM to reduce costs is becoming a practical trend. This divergence also implies that internal capital rotation within the storage industry chain may continue; investors should exercise greater caution regarding short-term earnings expectations for DRAM-related stocks, while the fundamental improvement in the NAND segment may not yet be fully priced in.
24 minutes ago
Kraken Launches Customized Crypto Vaults, Allowing Users to Earn Yields on Idle Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and Stablecoins
Kraken Institutional has announced a partnership with on-chain yield platform Upshift, allowing qualified institutional clients to earn returns on idle Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins and other crypto assets directly within Kraken’s compliant custody framework. Unlike traditional pooled vaults, Upshift will build dedicated, customized vaults for each client, fully tailored to their investment strategies, risk parameters, liquidity needs and asset portfolios. Assets will be allocated to these non-custodial vaults, then deployed to selected on-chain contracts, with clients’ segregated Kraken custody accounts receiving a receipt token.
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SpaceX falls below its $135 IPO price for the first time; US-listed space-related stocks decline across the board.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), during U.S. stock intraday trading, SpaceX (SPCX) fell below its IPO price of $135 for the first time, currently trading at $133.6. U.S. space-related stocks declined across the board: AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) dropped 5.26%, Rocket Lab (RKLB) fell 3.4%, and Redwire (RDW) declined 3.4%.
RWA perpetual contract trading platform Ostium on Arbitrum has been hacked, with estimated losses of $18 million, roughly 35% of its over $34 million treasury. The attacker is alleged to have compromised the oracle signer’s private key, used the registered PriceUpkeep relay to submit favorable future prices, and executed a loop of opening and closing positions to drain the treasury. Ostium’s official team has not yet responded.
Crypto clearing startup Glacis Labs has closed a $6.8 million seed round. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, A.GAIN (formerly IDC Ventures), Protein Capital, and Techni Ventures, structured as an equity-plus-token warrant deal. The funding will primarily be used to expand its core product, the ZeroDelta platform, and support the growth of its engineering, compliance, and marketing teams. ZeroDelta is a multi-chain clearing platform that facilitates matching, netting, and final settlement of cross-chain digital assets. It currently focuses on serving stablecoins and has processed over $1 billion in cumulative trading volume to date.
24 minutes ago
The United States will issue a $1 Trump gold coin to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced today that the U.S. Mint will produce a $1 commemorative "gold coin" — gold in appearance but containing no actual gold or precious metals — to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The obverse features a portrait of President Trump in a suit and tie, paired with the inscriptions "LIBERTY," "IN GOD WE TRUST," and the dates 1776-2026; the reverse displays the U.S. Great Seal eagle, marked with "$1" and "250." The coin is expected to be released this fall. The move breaks the longstanding tradition that living presidents typically do not appear on U.S. currency, with Bessent describing it as a "lasting symbol of patriotism" and "a commemoration of the legacy of freedom."
24 minutes ago
Trump: Data centers are a cash cow and one of the largest drivers of future job growth.
Trump posted that data centers are one of the biggest drivers of future job growth. They are large-scale, powerful, and have broad prospects, serving as cash cows for their respective states. However, for political reasons, the Governor of New York State terminated all data center projects under construction or planned in New York. These companies are now flocking to Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and many other states. The tax revenues and jobs brought by data centers are truly a huge source of wealth! New York State has made a bad decision. All this revenue and other benefits will flow to so-called "red states" (states dominated by the Republican Party) and some "blue states" (states dominated by the Democratic Party). These states not only have lower taxes but also can create record job opportunities. They will bear their own water and electricity costs, and the remaining funds will be returned to state governments and local communities. For the states and communities fortunate enough to secure data centers, these facilities are undoubtedly huge assets. New York State should immediately reverse its policy. We must never allow radical left-wing Democrats to make us lose data centers, artificial intelligence, and all these amazing new technologies, letting them fall into the hands of other countries!
24 minutes ago
Goldman Sachs' View: Storage Market Shows Structural Shifts, Partial Replacement of DRAM by NAND for Cost Reduction Becomes a Practical Trend
Citirni analyst Jukan referenced Goldman Sachs’ monthly conference call remarks on the memory sector, noting clients’ strong resistance to DRAM price hikes approaching 30%, leading to a modest downward revision of third-quarter DRAM price growth expectations. Meanwhile, the outlook for NAND has grown more optimistic: AI-related KV cache offloading demand continues to exceed expectations, paired with an emerging trend of using NAND to replace expensive DRAM, further supporting NAND demand. The analyst holds a positive view on SK Hynix’s second-quarter performance, projecting revenue of approximately 85 trillion won and a gross margin of 63%. Relevant stocks include SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk. The commentary also reveals structural shifts in the memory market. Previously, explosive HBM demand from AI servers drove DRAM prices soaring, but once price increases hit the 30% threshold, clients began resisting further hikes, leading to a temporary slowdown in the pace of DRAM price growth. NAND is taking on a new role in AI infrastructure: KV cache is critical in inference scenarios, and using cheaper NAND to partially replace expensive DRAM to reduce costs is becoming a practical trend. This divergence also implies that internal capital rotation within the storage industry chain may continue; investors should exercise greater caution regarding short-term earnings expectations for DRAM-related stocks, while the fundamental improvement in the NAND segment may not yet be fully priced in.
24 minutes ago
Kraken Launches Customized Crypto Vaults, Allowing Users to Earn Yields on Idle Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and Stablecoins
Kraken Institutional has announced a partnership with on-chain yield platform Upshift, allowing qualified institutional clients to earn returns on idle Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins and other crypto assets directly within Kraken’s compliant custody framework. Unlike traditional pooled vaults, Upshift will build dedicated, customized vaults for each client, fully tailored to their investment strategies, risk parameters, liquidity needs and asset portfolios. Assets will be allocated to these non-custodial vaults, then deployed to selected on-chain contracts, with clients’ segregated Kraken custody accounts receiving a receipt token.
24 minutes ago
SpaceX falls below its $135 IPO price for the first time; US-listed space-related stocks decline across the board.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), during U.S. stock intraday trading, SpaceX (SPCX) fell below its IPO price of $135 for the first time, currently trading at $133.6. U.S. space-related stocks declined across the board: AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) dropped 5.26%, Rocket Lab (RKLB) fell 3.4%, and Redwire (RDW) declined 3.4%.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
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Perpetual decentralized exchange (Perp DEX) Ostium has issued an official announcement confirming issues with its OLP vault, suspending all trading while the team launches an investigation. Earlier, the Arbitrum-based real-world asset (RWA) perpetual contract trading platform Ostium was hacked, with estimated losses of $18 million.
Crypto clearing startup Glacis Labs has closed a $6.8 million seed round. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, A.GAIN (formerly IDC Ventures), Protein Capital, and Techni Ventures, structured as an equity-plus-token warrant deal. The funding will primarily be used to expand its core product, the ZeroDelta platform, and support the growth of its engineering, compliance, and marketing teams. ZeroDelta is a multi-chain clearing platform that facilitates matching, netting, and final settlement of cross-chain digital assets. It currently focuses on serving stablecoins and has processed over $1 billion in cumulative trading volume to date.
24 minutes ago
The United States will issue a $1 Trump gold coin to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced today that the U.S. Mint will produce a $1 commemorative "gold coin" — gold in appearance but containing no actual gold or precious metals — to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The obverse features a portrait of President Trump in a suit and tie, paired with the inscriptions "LIBERTY," "IN GOD WE TRUST," and the dates 1776-2026; the reverse displays the U.S. Great Seal eagle, marked with "$1" and "250." The coin is expected to be released this fall. The move breaks the longstanding tradition that living presidents typically do not appear on U.S. currency, with Bessent describing it as a "lasting symbol of patriotism" and "a commemoration of the legacy of freedom."
24 minutes ago
Trump: Data centers are a cash cow and one of the largest drivers of future job growth.
Trump posted that data centers are one of the biggest drivers of future job growth. They are large-scale, powerful, and have broad prospects, serving as cash cows for their respective states. However, for political reasons, the Governor of New York State terminated all data center projects under construction or planned in New York. These companies are now flocking to Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and many other states. The tax revenues and jobs brought by data centers are truly a huge source of wealth! New York State has made a bad decision. All this revenue and other benefits will flow to so-called "red states" (states dominated by the Republican Party) and some "blue states" (states dominated by the Democratic Party). These states not only have lower taxes but also can create record job opportunities. They will bear their own water and electricity costs, and the remaining funds will be returned to state governments and local communities. For the states and communities fortunate enough to secure data centers, these facilities are undoubtedly huge assets. New York State should immediately reverse its policy. We must never allow radical left-wing Democrats to make us lose data centers, artificial intelligence, and all these amazing new technologies, letting them fall into the hands of other countries!
24 minutes ago
Goldman Sachs' View: Storage Market Shows Structural Shifts, Partial Replacement of DRAM by NAND for Cost Reduction Becomes a Practical Trend
Citirni analyst Jukan referenced Goldman Sachs’ monthly conference call remarks on the memory sector, noting clients’ strong resistance to DRAM price hikes approaching 30%, leading to a modest downward revision of third-quarter DRAM price growth expectations. Meanwhile, the outlook for NAND has grown more optimistic: AI-related KV cache offloading demand continues to exceed expectations, paired with an emerging trend of using NAND to replace expensive DRAM, further supporting NAND demand. The analyst holds a positive view on SK Hynix’s second-quarter performance, projecting revenue of approximately 85 trillion won and a gross margin of 63%. Relevant stocks include SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk. The commentary also reveals structural shifts in the memory market. Previously, explosive HBM demand from AI servers drove DRAM prices soaring, but once price increases hit the 30% threshold, clients began resisting further hikes, leading to a temporary slowdown in the pace of DRAM price growth. NAND is taking on a new role in AI infrastructure: KV cache is critical in inference scenarios, and using cheaper NAND to partially replace expensive DRAM to reduce costs is becoming a practical trend. This divergence also implies that internal capital rotation within the storage industry chain may continue; investors should exercise greater caution regarding short-term earnings expectations for DRAM-related stocks, while the fundamental improvement in the NAND segment may not yet be fully priced in.
24 minutes ago
Kraken Launches Customized Crypto Vaults, Allowing Users to Earn Yields on Idle Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and Stablecoins
Kraken Institutional has announced a partnership with on-chain yield platform Upshift, allowing qualified institutional clients to earn returns on idle Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins and other crypto assets directly within Kraken’s compliant custody framework. Unlike traditional pooled vaults, Upshift will build dedicated, customized vaults for each client, fully tailored to their investment strategies, risk parameters, liquidity needs and asset portfolios. Assets will be allocated to these non-custodial vaults, then deployed to selected on-chain contracts, with clients’ segregated Kraken custody accounts receiving a receipt token.
24 minutes ago
SpaceX falls below its $135 IPO price for the first time; US-listed space-related stocks decline across the board.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), during U.S. stock intraday trading, SpaceX (SPCX) fell below its IPO price of $135 for the first time, currently trading at $133.6. U.S. space-related stocks declined across the board: AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) dropped 5.26%, Rocket Lab (RKLB) fell 3.4%, and Redwire (RDW) declined 3.4%.
Arbitrum-based DeFi protocol Ostium has halted trading after a reported exploit in its OLP vault led to an estimated $18 million USDC loss.
Security firm Blockaid, the first to report the incident, said the attacker manipulated oracle data to generate fake trading profits.
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🚨 Blockaid detected an @Ostium Vault exploit on Arbitrum.
An attacker used a registered PriceUpKeep forwarder and future-dated authorized oracle reports to create artificial trade profit, triggering a ~$18M USDC payout from the vault.
More details in 🧵
— Blockaid (@blockaid_) July 15, 2026
Blockaid said the attacker used a registered PriceUpKeep forwarder and future-dated authorized oracle reports to fabricate trading profits, allowing them to extract roughly $18 million USDC from the vault.
Ostium said it was aware of the incident. The project has suspended all trading activity, and is actively investigating the issue.
We are aware of the issue with the OLP vault. We have paused all trading. The team is investigating.
— Ostium (@Ostium) July 15, 2026
Ostium provides perpetual trading for tokenized real-world assets, giving users onchain access to markets beyond crypto. The project recently secured $20 million to grow its decentralized platform for trading real-world assets via perpetual futures.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
According to EmberCN’s monitoring, an hour and a half ago, the DeBank address under the username musti_akrep exploited a vulnerability on Perp DEX Ostium to gain 23.75 million USDC, transferred the funds to the Arbitrum blockchain, and immediately converted the USDC into 12,085 ETH at a purchase price of $1,965.
Crypto clearing startup Glacis Labs has closed a $6.8 million seed round. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, A.GAIN (formerly IDC Ventures), Protein Capital, and Techni Ventures, structured as an equity-plus-token warrant deal. The funding will primarily be used to expand its core product, the ZeroDelta platform, and support the growth of its engineering, compliance, and marketing teams. ZeroDelta is a multi-chain clearing platform that facilitates matching, netting, and final settlement of cross-chain digital assets. It currently focuses on serving stablecoins and has processed over $1 billion in cumulative trading volume to date.
24 minutes ago
The United States will issue a $1 Trump gold coin to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced today that the U.S. Mint will produce a $1 commemorative "gold coin" — gold in appearance but containing no actual gold or precious metals — to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The obverse features a portrait of President Trump in a suit and tie, paired with the inscriptions "LIBERTY," "IN GOD WE TRUST," and the dates 1776-2026; the reverse displays the U.S. Great Seal eagle, marked with "$1" and "250." The coin is expected to be released this fall. The move breaks the longstanding tradition that living presidents typically do not appear on U.S. currency, with Bessent describing it as a "lasting symbol of patriotism" and "a commemoration of the legacy of freedom."
24 minutes ago
Trump: Data centers are a cash cow and one of the largest drivers of future job growth.
Trump posted that data centers are one of the biggest drivers of future job growth. They are large-scale, powerful, and have broad prospects, serving as cash cows for their respective states. However, for political reasons, the Governor of New York State terminated all data center projects under construction or planned in New York. These companies are now flocking to Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and many other states. The tax revenues and jobs brought by data centers are truly a huge source of wealth! New York State has made a bad decision. All this revenue and other benefits will flow to so-called "red states" (states dominated by the Republican Party) and some "blue states" (states dominated by the Democratic Party). These states not only have lower taxes but also can create record job opportunities. They will bear their own water and electricity costs, and the remaining funds will be returned to state governments and local communities. For the states and communities fortunate enough to secure data centers, these facilities are undoubtedly huge assets. New York State should immediately reverse its policy. We must never allow radical left-wing Democrats to make us lose data centers, artificial intelligence, and all these amazing new technologies, letting them fall into the hands of other countries!
24 minutes ago
Goldman Sachs' View: Storage Market Shows Structural Shifts, Partial Replacement of DRAM by NAND for Cost Reduction Becomes a Practical Trend
Citirni analyst Jukan referenced Goldman Sachs’ monthly conference call remarks on the memory sector, noting clients’ strong resistance to DRAM price hikes approaching 30%, leading to a modest downward revision of third-quarter DRAM price growth expectations. Meanwhile, the outlook for NAND has grown more optimistic: AI-related KV cache offloading demand continues to exceed expectations, paired with an emerging trend of using NAND to replace expensive DRAM, further supporting NAND demand. The analyst holds a positive view on SK Hynix’s second-quarter performance, projecting revenue of approximately 85 trillion won and a gross margin of 63%. Relevant stocks include SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk. The commentary also reveals structural shifts in the memory market. Previously, explosive HBM demand from AI servers drove DRAM prices soaring, but once price increases hit the 30% threshold, clients began resisting further hikes, leading to a temporary slowdown in the pace of DRAM price growth. NAND is taking on a new role in AI infrastructure: KV cache is critical in inference scenarios, and using cheaper NAND to partially replace expensive DRAM to reduce costs is becoming a practical trend. This divergence also implies that internal capital rotation within the storage industry chain may continue; investors should exercise greater caution regarding short-term earnings expectations for DRAM-related stocks, while the fundamental improvement in the NAND segment may not yet be fully priced in.
24 minutes ago
Kraken Launches Customized Crypto Vaults, Allowing Users to Earn Yields on Idle Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and Stablecoins
Kraken Institutional has announced a partnership with on-chain yield platform Upshift, allowing qualified institutional clients to earn returns on idle Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins and other crypto assets directly within Kraken’s compliant custody framework. Unlike traditional pooled vaults, Upshift will build dedicated, customized vaults for each client, fully tailored to their investment strategies, risk parameters, liquidity needs and asset portfolios. Assets will be allocated to these non-custodial vaults, then deployed to selected on-chain contracts, with clients’ segregated Kraken custody accounts receiving a receipt token.
24 minutes ago
SpaceX falls below its $135 IPO price for the first time; US-listed space-related stocks decline across the board.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), during U.S. stock intraday trading, SpaceX (SPCX) fell below its IPO price of $135 for the first time, currently trading at $133.6. U.S. space-related stocks declined across the board: AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) dropped 5.26%, Rocket Lab (RKLB) fell 3.4%, and Redwire (RDW) declined 3.4%.
In brief Ostium lost about $18 million USDC in an oracle exploit on Wednesday. Attackers used a compromised oracle signer key to submit falsified future-dated price reports. The exploit drained nearly one-third of the protocol's liquidity. Ostium lost roughly $18 million on Wednesday after attackers compromised an oracle signer key and manipulated the decentralized perpetuals exchange's price feed to generate fake trading profits, according to blockchain security firm Blockaid.
In a post on X, Blockaid said the attacker used a registered PriceUpKeep forwarder and future-dated authorized oracle reports to create artificial trading profits, triggering the multi-million payout—in the form of the Circle-issued stablecoin USDC—from Ostium's liquidity vault.
“We are aware of the issue with the OLP vault,” Ostium wrote on X. “We have paused all trading. The team is investigating.”
Built on Arbitrum, Ostium offers perpetual futures tied to real-world assets including stocks, commodities, foreign exchange markets, and indices. It operates as a decentralized exchange, or DEX, meaning users largely stay in control of their funds and do not provide personally identifiable information. At the time of the attack, the protocol held about $63 million in total value locked, meaning the exploit drained close to one-third of its liquidity.
The attack comes amid one of the worst years on record for DeFi exploits. DeFi, or decentralized finance, refers to financial applications that operate natively on blockchain networks, without third-party intermediaries like banks. More than $840 million was stolen from DeFi protocols in the first five months of 2026, including $292 million stolen from KelpDAO and $285 million from Drift Protocol. Hackers also targeted Resolv Labs in June, stealing over $25 million.
Security experts warn that advances in artificial intelligence are accelerating exploit discovery.
"AI is far better at reviewing code than most people and finding potential vulnerabilities in it," Danny Jenkins, CEO and co-founder of ThreatLocker, previously told Decrypt. Jenkins said current AI systems are already accelerating vulnerability discovery, while newer models such as Mythos could significantly expand those capabilities, calling it an imminent “big problem.”
“It will be only a matter of time until someone bad gets access to it,” he said.
In May, security researcher Taylor Hornby used Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8 to identify a four-year-old counterfeiting vulnerability in Zcash, underscoring how frontier AI models are becoming increasingly effective at finding complex software flaws.
Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
According to Arkham's monitoring, Polymarket platform account "gud.hl" holds 12.35 million Argentina World Cup-related prediction contracts. The account previously opened positions at around $1.3 million, and currently has an unrealized profit of approximately $1.1 million. If Argentina wins the World Cup, the account's position value will rise to roughly $12 million, generating substantial gains.
Crypto clearing startup Glacis Labs has closed a $6.8 million seed round. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, A.GAIN (formerly IDC Ventures), Protein Capital, and Techni Ventures, structured as an equity-plus-token warrant deal. The funding will primarily be used to expand its core product, the ZeroDelta platform, and support the growth of its engineering, compliance, and marketing teams. ZeroDelta is a multi-chain clearing platform that facilitates matching, netting, and final settlement of cross-chain digital assets. It currently focuses on serving stablecoins and has processed over $1 billion in cumulative trading volume to date.
14 minutes ago
The United States will issue a $1 Trump gold coin to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced today that the U.S. Mint will produce a $1 commemorative "gold coin" — gold in appearance but containing no actual gold or precious metals — to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The obverse features a portrait of President Trump in a suit and tie, paired with the inscriptions "LIBERTY," "IN GOD WE TRUST," and the dates 1776-2026; the reverse displays the U.S. Great Seal eagle, marked with "$1" and "250." The coin is expected to be released this fall. The move breaks the longstanding tradition that living presidents typically do not appear on U.S. currency, with Bessent describing it as a "lasting symbol of patriotism" and "a commemoration of the legacy of freedom."
14 minutes ago
Trump: Data centers are a cash cow and one of the largest drivers of future job growth.
Trump posted that data centers are one of the biggest drivers of future job growth. They are large-scale, powerful, and have broad prospects, serving as cash cows for their respective states. However, for political reasons, the Governor of New York State terminated all data center projects under construction or planned in New York. These companies are now flocking to Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and many other states. The tax revenues and jobs brought by data centers are truly a huge source of wealth! New York State has made a bad decision. All this revenue and other benefits will flow to so-called "red states" (states dominated by the Republican Party) and some "blue states" (states dominated by the Democratic Party). These states not only have lower taxes but also can create record job opportunities. They will bear their own water and electricity costs, and the remaining funds will be returned to state governments and local communities. For the states and communities fortunate enough to secure data centers, these facilities are undoubtedly huge assets. New York State should immediately reverse its policy. We must never allow radical left-wing Democrats to make us lose data centers, artificial intelligence, and all these amazing new technologies, letting them fall into the hands of other countries!
14 minutes ago
Goldman Sachs' View: Storage Market Shows Structural Shifts, Partial Replacement of DRAM by NAND for Cost Reduction Becomes a Practical Trend
Citirni analyst Jukan referenced Goldman Sachs’ monthly conference call remarks on the memory sector, noting clients’ strong resistance to DRAM price hikes approaching 30%, leading to a modest downward revision of third-quarter DRAM price growth expectations. Meanwhile, the outlook for NAND has grown more optimistic: AI-related KV cache offloading demand continues to exceed expectations, paired with an emerging trend of using NAND to replace expensive DRAM, further supporting NAND demand. The analyst holds a positive view on SK Hynix’s second-quarter performance, projecting revenue of approximately 85 trillion won and a gross margin of 63%. Relevant stocks include SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk. The commentary also reveals structural shifts in the memory market. Previously, explosive HBM demand from AI servers drove DRAM prices soaring, but once price increases hit the 30% threshold, clients began resisting further hikes, leading to a temporary slowdown in the pace of DRAM price growth. NAND is taking on a new role in AI infrastructure: KV cache is critical in inference scenarios, and using cheaper NAND to partially replace expensive DRAM to reduce costs is becoming a practical trend. This divergence also implies that internal capital rotation within the storage industry chain may continue; investors should exercise greater caution regarding short-term earnings expectations for DRAM-related stocks, while the fundamental improvement in the NAND segment may not yet be fully priced in.
14 minutes ago
Kraken Launches Customized Crypto Vaults, Allowing Users to Earn Yields on Idle Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and Stablecoins
Kraken Institutional has announced a partnership with on-chain yield platform Upshift, allowing qualified institutional clients to earn returns on idle Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins and other crypto assets directly within Kraken’s compliant custody framework. Unlike traditional pooled vaults, Upshift will build dedicated, customized vaults for each client, fully tailored to their investment strategies, risk parameters, liquidity needs and asset portfolios. Assets will be allocated to these non-custodial vaults, then deployed to selected on-chain contracts, with clients’ segregated Kraken custody accounts receiving a receipt token.
14 minutes ago
SpaceX falls below its $135 IPO price for the first time; US-listed space-related stocks decline across the board.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), during U.S. stock intraday trading, SpaceX (SPCX) fell below its IPO price of $135 for the first time, currently trading at $133.6. U.S. space-related stocks declined across the board: AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) dropped 5.26%, Rocket Lab (RKLB) fell 3.4%, and Redwire (RDW) declined 3.4%.
According to monitoring by Arkham, a U.S. government-linked address has shown unusual activity again, transferring approximately $250,000 worth of SHIB from funds seized from FTX and Alameda, and the transfer is expected to be used to repay FTX’s creditors.
Crypto clearing startup Glacis Labs has closed a $6.8 million seed round. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, A.GAIN (formerly IDC Ventures), Protein Capital, and Techni Ventures, structured as an equity-plus-token warrant deal. The funding will primarily be used to expand its core product, the ZeroDelta platform, and support the growth of its engineering, compliance, and marketing teams. ZeroDelta is a multi-chain clearing platform that facilitates matching, netting, and final settlement of cross-chain digital assets. It currently focuses on serving stablecoins and has processed over $1 billion in cumulative trading volume to date.
14 minutes ago
The United States will issue a $1 Trump gold coin to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced today that the U.S. Mint will produce a $1 commemorative "gold coin" — gold in appearance but containing no actual gold or precious metals — to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The obverse features a portrait of President Trump in a suit and tie, paired with the inscriptions "LIBERTY," "IN GOD WE TRUST," and the dates 1776-2026; the reverse displays the U.S. Great Seal eagle, marked with "$1" and "250." The coin is expected to be released this fall. The move breaks the longstanding tradition that living presidents typically do not appear on U.S. currency, with Bessent describing it as a "lasting symbol of patriotism" and "a commemoration of the legacy of freedom."
14 minutes ago
Trump: Data centers are a cash cow and one of the largest drivers of future job growth.
Trump posted that data centers are one of the biggest drivers of future job growth. They are large-scale, powerful, and have broad prospects, serving as cash cows for their respective states. However, for political reasons, the Governor of New York State terminated all data center projects under construction or planned in New York. These companies are now flocking to Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and many other states. The tax revenues and jobs brought by data centers are truly a huge source of wealth! New York State has made a bad decision. All this revenue and other benefits will flow to so-called "red states" (states dominated by the Republican Party) and some "blue states" (states dominated by the Democratic Party). These states not only have lower taxes but also can create record job opportunities. They will bear their own water and electricity costs, and the remaining funds will be returned to state governments and local communities. For the states and communities fortunate enough to secure data centers, these facilities are undoubtedly huge assets. New York State should immediately reverse its policy. We must never allow radical left-wing Democrats to make us lose data centers, artificial intelligence, and all these amazing new technologies, letting them fall into the hands of other countries!
14 minutes ago
Goldman Sachs' View: Storage Market Shows Structural Shifts, Partial Replacement of DRAM by NAND for Cost Reduction Becomes a Practical Trend
Citirni analyst Jukan referenced Goldman Sachs’ monthly conference call remarks on the memory sector, noting clients’ strong resistance to DRAM price hikes approaching 30%, leading to a modest downward revision of third-quarter DRAM price growth expectations. Meanwhile, the outlook for NAND has grown more optimistic: AI-related KV cache offloading demand continues to exceed expectations, paired with an emerging trend of using NAND to replace expensive DRAM, further supporting NAND demand. The analyst holds a positive view on SK Hynix’s second-quarter performance, projecting revenue of approximately 85 trillion won and a gross margin of 63%. Relevant stocks include SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk. The commentary also reveals structural shifts in the memory market. Previously, explosive HBM demand from AI servers drove DRAM prices soaring, but once price increases hit the 30% threshold, clients began resisting further hikes, leading to a temporary slowdown in the pace of DRAM price growth. NAND is taking on a new role in AI infrastructure: KV cache is critical in inference scenarios, and using cheaper NAND to partially replace expensive DRAM to reduce costs is becoming a practical trend. This divergence also implies that internal capital rotation within the storage industry chain may continue; investors should exercise greater caution regarding short-term earnings expectations for DRAM-related stocks, while the fundamental improvement in the NAND segment may not yet be fully priced in.
14 minutes ago
Kraken Launches Customized Crypto Vaults, Allowing Users to Earn Yields on Idle Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and Stablecoins
Kraken Institutional has announced a partnership with on-chain yield platform Upshift, allowing qualified institutional clients to earn returns on idle Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins and other crypto assets directly within Kraken’s compliant custody framework. Unlike traditional pooled vaults, Upshift will build dedicated, customized vaults for each client, fully tailored to their investment strategies, risk parameters, liquidity needs and asset portfolios. Assets will be allocated to these non-custodial vaults, then deployed to selected on-chain contracts, with clients’ segregated Kraken custody accounts receiving a receipt token.
14 minutes ago
SpaceX falls below its $135 IPO price for the first time; US-listed space-related stocks decline across the board.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), during U.S. stock intraday trading, SpaceX (SPCX) fell below its IPO price of $135 for the first time, currently trading at $133.6. U.S. space-related stocks declined across the board: AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) dropped 5.26%, Rocket Lab (RKLB) fell 3.4%, and Redwire (RDW) declined 3.4%.
According to Arkham’s monitoring, the address holding seized FTX/Alameda funds under U.S. government custody transferred 4,815 ETH to Coinbase, worth $9.29 million, and is likely to sell the assets soon to repay FTX creditors.
Crypto clearing startup Glacis Labs has closed a $6.8 million seed round. The round was led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, A.GAIN (formerly IDC Ventures), Protein Capital, and Techni Ventures, structured as an equity-plus-token warrant deal. The funding will primarily be used to expand its core product, the ZeroDelta platform, and support the growth of its engineering, compliance, and marketing teams. ZeroDelta is a multi-chain clearing platform that facilitates matching, netting, and final settlement of cross-chain digital assets. It currently focuses on serving stablecoins and has processed over $1 billion in cumulative trading volume to date.
14 minutes ago
The United States will issue a $1 Trump gold coin to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced today that the U.S. Mint will produce a $1 commemorative "gold coin" — gold in appearance but containing no actual gold or precious metals — to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The obverse features a portrait of President Trump in a suit and tie, paired with the inscriptions "LIBERTY," "IN GOD WE TRUST," and the dates 1776-2026; the reverse displays the U.S. Great Seal eagle, marked with "$1" and "250." The coin is expected to be released this fall. The move breaks the longstanding tradition that living presidents typically do not appear on U.S. currency, with Bessent describing it as a "lasting symbol of patriotism" and "a commemoration of the legacy of freedom."
14 minutes ago
Trump: Data centers are a cash cow and one of the largest drivers of future job growth.
Trump posted that data centers are one of the biggest drivers of future job growth. They are large-scale, powerful, and have broad prospects, serving as cash cows for their respective states. However, for political reasons, the Governor of New York State terminated all data center projects under construction or planned in New York. These companies are now flocking to Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and many other states. The tax revenues and jobs brought by data centers are truly a huge source of wealth! New York State has made a bad decision. All this revenue and other benefits will flow to so-called "red states" (states dominated by the Republican Party) and some "blue states" (states dominated by the Democratic Party). These states not only have lower taxes but also can create record job opportunities. They will bear their own water and electricity costs, and the remaining funds will be returned to state governments and local communities. For the states and communities fortunate enough to secure data centers, these facilities are undoubtedly huge assets. New York State should immediately reverse its policy. We must never allow radical left-wing Democrats to make us lose data centers, artificial intelligence, and all these amazing new technologies, letting them fall into the hands of other countries!
14 minutes ago
Goldman Sachs' View: Storage Market Shows Structural Shifts, Partial Replacement of DRAM by NAND for Cost Reduction Becomes a Practical Trend
Citirni analyst Jukan referenced Goldman Sachs’ monthly conference call remarks on the memory sector, noting clients’ strong resistance to DRAM price hikes approaching 30%, leading to a modest downward revision of third-quarter DRAM price growth expectations. Meanwhile, the outlook for NAND has grown more optimistic: AI-related KV cache offloading demand continues to exceed expectations, paired with an emerging trend of using NAND to replace expensive DRAM, further supporting NAND demand. The analyst holds a positive view on SK Hynix’s second-quarter performance, projecting revenue of approximately 85 trillion won and a gross margin of 63%. Relevant stocks include SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk. The commentary also reveals structural shifts in the memory market. Previously, explosive HBM demand from AI servers drove DRAM prices soaring, but once price increases hit the 30% threshold, clients began resisting further hikes, leading to a temporary slowdown in the pace of DRAM price growth. NAND is taking on a new role in AI infrastructure: KV cache is critical in inference scenarios, and using cheaper NAND to partially replace expensive DRAM to reduce costs is becoming a practical trend. This divergence also implies that internal capital rotation within the storage industry chain may continue; investors should exercise greater caution regarding short-term earnings expectations for DRAM-related stocks, while the fundamental improvement in the NAND segment may not yet be fully priced in.
14 minutes ago
Kraken Launches Customized Crypto Vaults, Allowing Users to Earn Yields on Idle Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and Stablecoins
Kraken Institutional has announced a partnership with on-chain yield platform Upshift, allowing qualified institutional clients to earn returns on idle Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins and other crypto assets directly within Kraken’s compliant custody framework. Unlike traditional pooled vaults, Upshift will build dedicated, customized vaults for each client, fully tailored to their investment strategies, risk parameters, liquidity needs and asset portfolios. Assets will be allocated to these non-custodial vaults, then deployed to selected on-chain contracts, with clients’ segregated Kraken custody accounts receiving a receipt token.
14 minutes ago
SpaceX falls below its $135 IPO price for the first time; US-listed space-related stocks decline across the board.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), during U.S. stock intraday trading, SpaceX (SPCX) fell below its IPO price of $135 for the first time, currently trading at $133.6. U.S. space-related stocks declined across the board: AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) dropped 5.26%, Rocket Lab (RKLB) fell 3.4%, and Redwire (RDW) declined 3.4%.
A wallet labelled by blockchain analytics platform Arkham as belonging to the U.S. government has transferred approximately 54.9 billion Shiba Inu [SHIB]. The tokens are worth around $235,000. This has renewed attention on crypto assets seized during the FTX and Alameda Research investigations.
The movement was detected on-chain on July 15. While Arkham identified the SHIB as assets seized from FTX and Alameda, no U.S. government agency has publicly explained the purpose of the transfer.
Arkham flags movement from government-labelled wallet According to Arkham, the government-linked wallet transferred 54.895 billion SHIB. This was alongside smaller token movements from an address it attributes to assets seized in connection with FTX and Alameda.
The transfer was visible on-chain, although the destination does not, in itself, establish why the assets were moved. Government-controlled wallets routinely transfer digital assets for a range of operational reasons. This includes custody management, consolidation, or future disposal.
Arkham suggested the SHIB could ultimately be used in the FTX creditor repayment process. However, no court filing, Department of Justice statement, or update from the FTX Recovery Trust had confirmed the purpose of the transfer at the time of writing.
Transfer comes as FTX repayments continue The movement also comes as the FTX bankruptcy estate continues distributing recovered assets to creditors under its court-approved repayment plan.
Since the exchange’s collapse in November 2022, the estate has made multiple distributions to eligible creditor classes. Also, it has been recovering billions of dollars in assets through liquidations, settlements, and asset sales.
Bankruptcy administrators have previously said eligible creditors are expected to receive full principal repayments, with many also receiving statutory interest.
However, there is currently no indication that Wednesday’s SHIB transfer forms part of those ongoing creditor distributions.
Blockchain reveals movements, not motives Government wallet activity frequently attracts attention because blockchain data makes transfers publicly visible in real time. However, on-chain data alone cannot explain why assets are moved.
Without supporting court documents or official statements, transfers between government-controlled wallets or custodians may reflect administrative actions rather than imminent sales or distributions.
As a result, the latest SHIB movement should be viewed as a confirmed on-chain transfer rather than evidence of a specific government action.
Final Summary Arkham detected the transfer of approximately 54.9 billion SHIB, worth around $235,000, from a wallet it labels as belonging to the U.S. government. Although the transfer comes as the FTX estate continues creditor repayments, no official source has connected the movement to the bankruptcy distribution process.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Not all AI colocation deals are created equal. That’s the takeaway from Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani, who argues that headline return figures for bitcoin miners pivoting into AI infrastructure can be deeply misleading depending on who’s writing the check and how the contract is structured.
The poster child for this dynamic is Core Scientific, ticker CORZ, whose financial profile has been substantially shaped by its relationship with a single customer: CoreWeave.
One deal, outsized consequences CoreWeave signed a 12-year, $10 billion co-location agreement with Core Scientific, a contract that became the cornerstone of CORZ’s premium valuation in the market. That deal committed Core Scientific to delivering roughly 590 MW of IT load by early 2027. Bernstein estimates that Core Scientific’s AI segment now accounts for approximately 43% of its enterprise value.
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Core Scientific emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024, pivoting hard toward higher-margin AI and high-performance computing services. Bernstein raised its price target on CORZ to $24 from $17, while maintaining an Outperform rating on the stock.
When expectations outrun reality In July 2025, CoreWeave announced it would acquire Core Scientific in an all-stock deal valued at roughly $9 billion. CORZ shares dropped approximately 17 to 20% following the announcement.
CoreWeave has effectively consolidated control over Core Scientific’s approximately 1.3 GW of power capacity through the acquisition arrangement.
What this means for the broader miner-to-AI trade Announced data center deals in this space have crossed $90 billion in total value. Bernstein currently holds Outperform ratings on Core Scientific, IREN, Riot Platforms, and CleanSpark. MARA Holdings carries a Market Perform rating.
Bernstein’s analysis adds nuance to the miner-to-AI pitch. The returns are real, but they’re not uniform. How much a miner earns from AI colocation depends heavily on the deal structure, the creditworthiness and funding capacity of the customer, and the length of the contract. CoreWeave’s financial backing gave Core Scientific terms that most miners won’t replicate.
Investors watching this theme should pay close attention to contract duration, customer identity, and whether the AI revenue is backed by committed capacity agreements or softer arrangements. The difference between a $10 billion 12-year deal and a shorter, smaller contract isn’t just a matter of scale. It rewrites the entire investment thesis.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Core Scientific's (CORZ) AI colocation deal with CoreWeave generates a five-year average return on assets of 75% and a yield on cost of 79%, but the economics behind those numbers are not the sector norm, Bernstein said in a Wednesday note.
Analysts at the brokerage and research firm led by Madison Rezaei and Gautam Chhugani applied a stabilized returns framework to data center REITs and bitcoin miners, then pivoted to AI infrastructure, comparing Digital Realty and Equinix against TeraWulf (WULF), Cipher (CIFR), Core Scientific, CleanSpark (CLSK), and Riot Platforms (RIOT).
The outliers Core Scientific's returns are driven by the capex structure rather than the deal terms.
Per Bernstein, the company pays an effective $1.5 million per IT MW on 590 MW contracted to CoreWeave, with the tenant financing $750 million of the $855 million total through revenue prepayments and the remaining $105 million coming off Core Scientific's balance sheet.
Riot sits in similar territory at a 23% five-year average ROA and 29% yield on cost, driven by an incremental $3.5 million per IT MW to retrofit existing bitcoin facilities. That puts it on par with Equinix.
Bernstein treats both as exceptions. "We believe such capex advantaged deals are limited and do not reflect the overall economics of emerging AI infra players," the analysts wrote.
What the baseline looks like TeraWulf, at 5% ROA and 19% yield on cost, and Cipher, at 4% and 17%, are closer to what the subsector should deliver long term. CleanSpark lands in the same range at 4% and 17%. TeraWulf's capex advantage runs to $8 million to $10 million per IT MW, against Cipher's $9 million to $11 million per IT MW, a function of existing power and transmission infrastructure at its brownfield industrial sites.
Cipher claws back the gap in operating efficiency. Its blended average EBITDA margin of 94% beats TeraWulf's 85%, an outcome of triple-net lease contracts with AWS that push power costs, taxes, and other operating expenses to the tenant and lift NOI margins toward 100%.
CleanSpark's $6.6 billion, 20-year lease for 175 IT MW in Sandersville, Georgia, reportedly its first AI colocation deal, carries an average annual revenue yield of roughly $1.9 million per IT MW, compared with $2.4 million on TeraWulf's 20-year Anthropic contract, with the same triple-net structure.
Deal terms are improving Unlevered IRRs across the colocation deals Bernstein tracks range from 8% to 13%, against current financing costs of 6% to 7%.
Cipher's repeat contract with AWS lifted revenue yield to $1.9 million per IT MW from $1.7 million, roughly 13% higher, without giving up the triple-net structure.
Bernstein prefers yield-on-cost at the asset level, arguing that ROA is distorted by variations in depreciation policies, definitions of "stabilized" assets, and capex structures.
Two different businesses The divide runs deeper than the metrics. Digital Realty and Equinix operate mature portfolios of hundreds of stabilized facilities in major metro markets, compared with a handful of rural sites anchored to single hyperscaler contracts on the miner side.
Bernstein rates the entire sector Outperform, with price targets of $36 on TeraWulf, $32 on Cipher, $32 on Core Scientific, $30 on Riot and $24 on CleanSpark. MARA is Market-Perform at $17.
The 7 GW miners have contracted to date represent less than a quarter of their 30 GW planned power pipeline.
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Not all Bitcoin miners are created equal when it comes to the AI pivot. Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani is making that case in stark numerical terms, pegging Core Scientific’s return on assets from its AI operations at 75%, while TeraWulf sits at 5% and Cipher Mining trails at 4%.
The numbers behind Core Scientific’s advantage The 75% ROA figure for Core Scientific comes down to one thing: its hosting agreement with CoreWeave, the AI cloud computing firm that has become one of the most sought-after infrastructure partners in the space. That deal is reportedly valued at approximately $6.7 billion, a contract size that most Bitcoin miners can only dream about.
Core Scientific emerged from bankruptcy in early 2024 with infrastructure already in place, meaning it didn’t need to spend billions on new construction to start hosting AI workloads. That capex advantage is the entire ballgame.
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TeraWulf and Cipher Mining, by contrast, are taking what Bernstein describes as a “power landlord” approach. They control significant power capacity and can lease it to AI tenants, but they haven’t locked in the kind of hosting arrangement that Core Scientific secured with CoreWeave. The result is stabilized ROAs of 5% and 4%, respectively.
Bernstein raised Core Scientific’s price target to $32 from $24 in June 2026, maintaining an Outperform rating.
Why Bitcoin miners became AI landlords Bitcoin miners collectively control more than 27 gigawatts of planned power capacity. When AI training and inference workloads started demanding enormous amounts of power and cooling infrastructure, Bitcoin miners found themselves sitting on exactly what hyperscalers needed: land, power purchase agreements, cooling systems, and permitting.
Core Scientific’s early mover advantage with CoreWeave gave it a locked-in, long-duration contract at favorable terms. The company was able to repurpose existing data center infrastructure for AI workloads without the massive capital outlays that a greenfield build would require. That’s the “capex-advantaged” part of Bernstein’s outlier designation.
What the ROA gap means for investors Core Scientific’s deal with CoreWeave is, by definition, hard to replicate. The terms Core Scientific locked in may not be available to latecomers, making the 75% ROA less of a benchmark for the sector and more of a ceiling that no one else is likely to reach anytime soon.
For TeraWulf and Cipher Mining, the power landlord model still has merit. A 4–5% stabilized ROA on massive infrastructure assets isn’t bad in absolute terms, particularly for investors looking for steady, lower-risk exposure to the AI buildout. But the growth story is fundamentally different from Core Scientific’s.
CoreWeave itself has faced scrutiny over its debt levels and capital intensity, which adds a layer of counterparty risk to Core Scientific’s contract. For crypto-native investors, the key takeaway from Bernstein’s analysis is that contract quality, capex timing, counterparty strength, and power cost structures all matter enormously. A 75% ROA and a 4% ROA can coexist in the same sector, and knowing which one you’re buying into makes all the difference.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
@BlackRock has crossed a threshold no investment firm has reached before. The world's largest asset manager ended the second quarter of 2026 with assets under management surpassing $15 trillion for the first time, reaching $15.34 trillion on the back of $192 billion in net client inflows.
Record Numbers Across the Board Adjusted earnings per share came in at $13.91, well above the analyst consensus of roughly $12.57, while revenue climbed 31% year over year to $7.08 billion, topping expectations of around $6.72 billion. BlackRock's 45.9% adjusted operating margin was the best in almost five years.
For the first half of 2026, the firm reported record net inflows of $321 billion. The results sent BlackRock shares up around 6% in premarket trading, reflecting investor enthusiasm for a quarter defined by record asset growth and accelerating inflows.
ETFs Driving the Growth Engine A significant portion of that momentum came from BlackRock's exchange-traded fund business. Digital asset products shed $3.1 billion during the quarter, while ETFs drew $177.9 billion in Q2 alone. Combined with the first quarter, the firm's ETF infrastructure captured approximately $178 billion in the first six months of the year.
BlackRock also continued expanding its higher-margin private markets and alternatives businesses, reporting 8% growth in organic base fees and marking the eighth consecutive quarter in which organic base fee growth exceeded 5%. The firm also raised its planned 2026 share buybacks to $2 billion, up from a previously announced $1.8 billion, signaling confidence in its cash generation.
CEO Larry Fink said: "The more clients we help participate in the markets, the more our own growth builds, higher organic growth, higher earnings growth, and more value for our shareholders."
Sources:
BlackRock Shares Jump After Crushing Quarterly Expectations, TradingPedia
BlackRock Rides to Record $15.3 Trillion in Assets on ETF and Alternatives Growth, InvestmentNews
BlackRock Hits $15 Trillion Record While Its Crypto Arm Shrinks 20%, BeInCrypto
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Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest is doubling down on its bet on USDC issuer Circle even as the company’s stock remains under pressure.
ARK bought another 220,000 shares of Circle Internet Group (CRCL) across three of its actively managed exchange-traded funds on Tuesday, according to the company’s daily trade disclosure reviewed by Cointelegraph.
Based on Circle’s Tuesday closing price of $63.22 on the New York Stock Exchange, ARK’s latest purchase was worth about $13.9 million.
Circle shares were down about 22% year-to-date and roughly 76% below their post-initial public offering (IPO) peak.
ARK discloses 725,000 Circle shares in July purchasesARK’s latest buy brought its disclosed July acquisitions of Circle shares to 725,517, following previous buys of 287,609 shares on July 1 and 217,896 shares on July 9.
The latest trade disclosures show ARK has consistently added to its Circle position across its flagship funds despite the stock’s prolonged decline, underscoring the investment manager’s conviction in the USDC issuer.
Source: ARK Invest
As of Wednesday, Circle accounted for 4.37% of the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), making it the fund’s seventh-largest holding. ARKF’s Circle position was valued at about $33 million, according to its latest holdings data.
Circle also represented 3.35% of the flagship ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), where it ranked as the fund’s ninth-largest holding, worth about $218 million.
Analysts see growing risks for CircleARK’s latest purchase came as analysts reassessed Circle’s outlook following a sharp decline in the company’s stock price.
Digital asset research platform 10x Research said it no longer considers Circle a buy after the stock fell back below $80. In a report published Tuesday, the company said it previously viewed CRCL as attractive below that level but now says Circle’s fundamentals have “meaningfully deteriorated.”
Source: 10x Research
The research report also pointed to slower USDC activity, including a decline in active addresses, as a concern for Circle.
USDC’s market capitalization has declined roughly 3% year-to-date to $73 billion at the time of publication, according to CoinGecko. Despite the recent decline, the stablecoin’s market capitalization remains about 17% higher than a year ago.
Still, 10x Research said a bullish case for Circle remains, adding the stock’s recent decline could either present a long-term buying opportunity or mark the start of a more prolonged downturn.
Magazine: Strategy became a symbol of the dot-com crash: Could history repeat?
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest is doubling down on its bet on USDC issuer Circle even as the company’s stock remains under pressure.
ARK bought another 220,000 shares of Circle Internet Group (CRCL) across three of its actively managed exchange-traded funds on Tuesday, according to the company’s daily trade disclosure reviewed by Cointelegraph.
Based on Circle’s Tuesday closing price of $63.22 on the New York Stock Exchange, ARK’s latest purchase was worth about $13.9 million.
Circle shares were down about 22% year-to-date and roughly 76% below their post-initial public offering (IPO) peak.
ARK discloses 725,000 Circle shares in July purchasesARK’s latest buy brought its disclosed July acquisitions of Circle shares to 725,517, following previous buys of 287,609 shares on July 1 and 217,896 shares on July 9.
The latest trade disclosures show ARK has consistently added to its Circle position across its flagship funds despite the stock’s prolonged decline, underscoring the investment manager’s conviction in the USDC issuer.
Source: ARK Invest
As of Wednesday, Circle accounted for 4.37% of the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), making it the fund’s seventh-largest holding. ARKF’s Circle position was valued at about $33 million, according to its latest holdings data.
Circle also represented 3.35% of the flagship ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), where it ranked as the fund’s ninth-largest holding, worth about $218 million.
Analysts see growing risks for CircleARK’s latest purchase came as analysts reassessed Circle’s outlook following a sharp decline in the company’s stock price.
Digital asset research platform 10x Research said it no longer considers Circle a buy after the stock fell back below $80. In a report published Tuesday, the company said it previously viewed CRCL as attractive below that level but now says Circle’s fundamentals have “meaningfully deteriorated.”
Source: 10x Research
The research report also pointed to slower USDC activity, including a decline in active addresses, as a concern for Circle.
USDC’s market capitalization has declined roughly 3% year-to-date to $73 billion at the time of publication, according to CoinGecko. Despite the recent decline, the stablecoin’s market capitalization remains about 17% higher than a year ago.
Still, 10x Research said a bullish case for Circle remains, adding the stock’s recent decline could either present a long-term buying opportunity or mark the start of a more prolonged downturn.
Magazine: Strategy became a symbol of the dot-com crash: Could history repeat?
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
ARK Invest scooped up roughly 217,896 shares of Circle Internet Group on July 9, adding approximately $13.7 million worth of the stablecoin issuer’s stock to its portfolio. The purchase came as CRCL shares were trading near one-month lows.
The move is part of a pattern that’s becoming hard to ignore. ARK has been steadily accumulating Circle stock since the company listed on the NYSE on June 5, 2025, with an IPO price of $31 per share. The fund bought $16.3 million worth of shares back on March 24 this year, followed by another $5.5 million in May. This latest purchase brings the 2026 total to north of $35 million in CRCL alone.
Selling Robinhood to buy the stablecoin giant Here’s the thing about this trade: it wasn’t just a buy. ARK simultaneously sold 85,319 shares of Robinhood for around $9.8 million. That’s a deliberate rebalancing, moving capital from a retail trading platform toward the company behind the second-largest stablecoin in existence.
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Circle’s stock closed near $63 in mid-July, roughly double its IPO price from just over a year ago.
Why Circle, and why now To understand ARK’s thesis here, you need to understand what Circle actually is. The company issues USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin that currently has approximately $73 billion worth of tokens in circulation. That makes it the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, trailing only Tether’s USDT.
Circle holds reserves backing USDC in US Treasuries and cash equivalents, earning yield on those holdings. When interest rates are elevated, that’s a very profitable business to be in.
The timing of ARK’s accumulation also coincides with growing regulatory clarity around stablecoins in the US. For a company like Circle that has positioned itself as the compliance-first alternative to Tether, clearer rules are a competitive advantage. More regulation in this space tends to benefit incumbents who already play by the rules.
What this means for investors The Robinhood-to-Circle rotation reflects a broader shift in how ARK is thinking about digital finance exposure. Rather than betting on platforms that let people trade crypto, ARK is increasingly betting on the infrastructure layer itself.
That said, Circle’s stock is not without risk. The company’s revenue is heavily tied to interest rates, since yield on USDC reserves is a primary income driver. If the Fed cuts rates aggressively, Circle’s margins compress. There’s also competitive pressure from Tether, which dominates the stablecoin market.
ARK has now spent over $35 million on Circle stock in 2026 alone, while actively trimming positions elsewhere, making a concentrated bet on the stablecoin infrastructure layer.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
